Dairy emissions calculated

The dairy industry is responsible for about 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a report by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Methane emissions make up half of this.¹

In 2007, the sector emitted almost two billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalent. Two thirds was linked to milk production and the rest to meat products from dairy animals.

The report follows a 2006 FAO study, Livestock’s Long Shadow, which suggested the dairy and meat industries accounted for almost a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions (ENDS Report 409, pp 25-26). The farming sector treated this finding with scepticism and trade association Dairy UK said the new figures prove dairy cows are not environmental villains.