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February 2019 ¦ international-dairy.com · 37
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to biodiversity protection, halting and reversing land degradation and
keeping the cultural landscape in Europe. Practices and commitments
to preserve biodiversity within the sector include reducing ammonia
emissions and nitrate leaching, sustainable soy sourcing as well as
measures aimed at soil management and renewal at farm level.
In the field of Circular Economy, a new action plan is also foreseen
as part of the EU strategy. The dairy sector is active in a wide field of
topics to improve the circular performance of dairy operations and we
work with other sectors on issues such as packaging and recycling, byproducts
valorisation, water re-use and food waste reduction.
The 2050 Carbon Neutrality objective at the core of the new Green
Deal is a very ambitious target to which EU dairy is committed to contribute
as well. Greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions from dairy operations have significantly
decreased in the past decades thanks to the efforts of all the actors
in the sector, making the carbon footprint of EU dairy one of the lowest in
the world. Energy efficiency measures to reduce usage of fuels and electricity,
renewable energy production on farm, sustainable feeding options
and better manure management are only some of the practices which are
implemented for reducing the carbon intensity of dairy. Enhancing carbon
sequestration by pastureland at farm level also plays a key role in mitigating
emissions and many European dairy companies are committed to further
scale up regenerative agriculture practices to promote it. European dairies
are frontrunners at global level when it comes to climate action and – as
per the examples shown above – many companies have signed up for the
commitment of carbon neutral dairy chain by 2050 or even 2035, with
examples of climate neutral certified companies already in 2019.
Dairy Product Environmental footprint
project: beyond GHG emissions
A holistic environmental strategy, as outlined by the Green Deal, is of
paramount importance in order to ensure that the efforts deployed
effectively lead to an improvement of the performance across all environmental
indicators. In this context, the Dairy PEF (Product Environmental
Footprint) is a fundamental tool for driving environmentally
sustainable practices in the dairy sector and allowing to quantify the
improvements. The project, conducted by the European Dairy Association
from 2014 to 2018 and officially approved by the EU Commission,
members states and NGOs as the reference methodology in
dairy, covers a broad list of 17 environmental indicators and considers
the complete life cycle of dairy products. It goes far beyond GHG
emissions and covers basically the ‘full’ environmental footprint.
Only what you can measure, counts!
Our Dairy PEF is today the best way to provide information on environmental
performance in a credible and measurable way, while
being always further refined to integrate more indicators. The PEF
can represent a tool to substantiate any relevant green claims for
sharing environmental footprint data along the chain.
For all we know today, the “Farm to Fork” strategy will specifically
tackle the provision of environmental, nutritional and origin
information of food products to consumers in the European Union.
Sustainability englobes the essential
nutritional value of milk & dairy
The success of the Dairy PEF attests the European dairy sector’s continuous
effort for improving its environmental sustainability from a holistic
point of view and its positive and proactive approach on environmental
sustainability. Next to environmental dimension, economic, social and
nutrition benefits are equally important for dairy. Mirroring the vision
outlined in Green Deal strategy by the European Commission, these
are four major pillars that European dairy brings in as strong assets for
the sustainable development in Europe and beyond. The dairy industry
has a long history in providing essential nutrition, employment and
livelihood, as well as contributing to the development of rural areas.
Nutrition, social and environmental benefits from dairying, next to the
economic sustainability, are highly important and will be further supported
by a streamlined policy environment under the new Green Deal.
Over the last years, the efforts of companies of all sizes across the
Union have shown the diversity of steps already taken towards “greening”
the economy of dairy production and consumption, and the broad
spectrum of contribution that dairy can bring to the sustainable development.
The dairy – at all levels – is committed to step up and play its
role within this new overarching political framework of the Green Deal.