According to the European Commission, research indicates that the European livestock sector – such as beef, dairy, sheep and pork farms – is responsible for 81% of all Europe’s agricultural emissions.
Including its induced impacts on other sectors such as energy, industry, land-use change, and feed importation, the EU livestock sector has a global warming impact equivalent to almost 20% of EU total emissions, according to research.
The commission has said that on-farm climate actions such as herd management and feeding, animal waste management, crop management and fertiliser/energy consumption, can reduce livestock greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions cost-effectively.
International research and existing European demonstration projects suggest that by applying these climate actions, European livestock farms could potentially reduce their emissions by 12-30% by 2030.
This week, the European Commission adopted a package of proposals to make the EU’s climate, energy, land use, transport and taxation policies “fit for reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030”, compared to 1990 levels.
Results-based carbon farming
The commission has said that result-based carbon farming mechanisms offer a promising way to incentivise farmers to take effective and efficient climate actions on their farms.
This is because the farmer gets paid in accordance with the amount of GHG emission reductions they achieve (i.e. there is a direct link between their reward and the actual impact they have on the climate).
Result-based carbon farming mechanisms can be based on whole farm carbon audit tools – computer programmes that calculate a farm’s GHG emissions (and other indicators such as nitrogen balance, economic profit), based on input data that summarises the farm’s management elements (e.g. animal number and type, feed type, etc.).
Carbon audit of livestock farm
The commission conducted case studies on how to measure carbon farming in various sectors.
In terms of livestock farming, a case study outlined typical project steps to include:
- A trained farm consultant visits the farm, calculates a baseline emission level and identifies climate actions to avoid emissions;
- The farmer implements the actions and keeps records;
- After five years, a consultant visits the farm again to calculate emission reductions over the period.
Rewards
The farmer is rewarded at a set rate per tonne of emission reductions, as long as they meet eligibility criteria (including “doing no harm” to other environmental and socio economic indicators).
Farmers do not receive offset credits or certificates.
Funding and governance
The mechanism can be funded either by a public body, internally within a company, or by external sale of offset credits/certificates.
The commission has said that this funding decision determines governance requirements.
Farm audit tools
A number of farm carbon audit tools are already available, while some mechanisms have custom built their own audit tools.
Audit tools are increasingly being designed in such a way that they can be adapted to different types of farms.
Tool accuracy increases with relevant scientific data (i.e. it is higher for estimating methane emissions for livestock in French farms, than for estimating soil carbon storage in Romanian farms).
Emission reductions can be more reliably estimated than carbon storage or sequestration, as soil carbon estimates depend on geographic and temporal features that can be difficult or costly to capture in farm carbon audit tools.
The conclusion of the case study was that there is sufficient knowledge, experience and technical capacity to develop result-based carbon farming mechanisms to incentivise emission reductions on European livestock farms, using whole-farm carbon audit tools.
However, due to the importance of the local context (including objectives, farmer/consultant knowledge and interest, as well as geography), there is no one-size-fits-all approach.
Accordingly, mechanisms must adapt to the local circumstances, ensure ongoing evaluation and engage stakeholders.