RfP – Protocol for including mitigation actions in agricultural LCA assessments (MiLCA)
Closing date: 14 February 2023, 17:00 (NZDT)
Background
The global dairy sector through its “net zero” ambitions is actively pursuing research and grass roots practice change to achieve the required mitigation outcomes. A large number of major dairy organisations are proactively quantifying their value chain emissions to better understand the greatest mitigation opportunities and how best to action these. There are many mitigation ‘levers’, possible, though incorporating the outcomes of the implementation of these in carbon footprint calculations is currently extremely challenging.
Although there are established protocols for calculating the carbon footprint of dairy production, there are two main gaps limiting progress:
- The scientific standards required to provide the evidence on efficacy and associated claims for new technologies (e.g. how much evidence is required before a mitigation lever is ‘scientifically’ considered to result in a reduction on the carbon footprint and how much reduction can be claimed on the basis of the available evidence).
- How the implementation of these and associated impact can be included and reflected in carbon footprint calculations
Objective of this RfP
The dairy industry wants to drive and promote the implementation of these new technologies and wants to ensure that accounting of any reductions is undertaken in a robust and responsible way. One of emerging and most promising mitigation levers to reduce the carbon footprint of dairy production are methane inhibitors. Although methane inhibitory products are available in the marketplace and many on farm trials are being undertaken, very few dairy companies are including the associated emissions reductions in on-farm carbon footprint calculations as the process for doing this in a robust manner has not yet been established.
It is a critical time for the ruminant sector in the climate dialogues and it is important that technologies that are part of the emissions mitigation toolbox are used responsibly at the earliest opportunity. As a result, the following organisations have pooled resources and will collaborate with the aim of solving this challenge:
- Arla Foods
- Danone
- Fonterra
- FrieslandCampina
- Nestle
- New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre
This project seeks to develop a protocol that will be generally applicable for all on-farm mitigation technologies, though will initially be tested on methane inhibitors as this is currently highly relevant in relation to the net zero ambition.
This project will be conducted in close collaboration with and has the aim of building on the Global Research Alliance Flagship Project: Feed Additives to Reduce Methane, that aims to facilitate the development and use of feed additives to reduce enteric methane emissions in the livestock sector by providing technical guidelines and protocols on good practices to test and develop feed additives of different nature, including the assessment of how to account for the benefit of using feed additives as a mitigation strategy.
For further information about this Request for Proposal, please download the RfP document below.
All communication regarding this RfP should be directed to Brian Lindsay at [email protected]