UK Sires join forces with industry to help bust GHG myths

UK Sires has joined forces with the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) and other industry stakeholders to help highlight accurate facts about greenhouse gas emissions from the sector ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow at the end of October (31st Oct). 

The aim is to help inform everyone of the actual levels of greenhouse gas contributions coming from the dairy industry and dispel many of the current myths. Therefore, the sector asks individuals, key industry stakeholders, businesses, and organisations to promote five key facts internally and to the broader public before, during, and after COP26. 

It is anticipated UK agriculture will come under the spotlight at COP26, which is why it is important to shout about the good work the dairy industry is doing to reduce emissions from what is already quite a low level.

Rob Wills from UK Sires said: "If everyone can share just one fact on social media, in their company newsletter, to a friend or in a conversation, for example, then that is at least one extra person that is better informed about emissions from the dairy industry." 

The facts being highlighted include: 

1. Dairy farming is responsible for less than 2% of the UK's total emissions. 
2. 46% - Almost half of the emissions coming from the dairy cow is from their digestion- a perfectly natural process of ruminants.  
3. It takes 8 litres of water to produce 1 litre of milk or 158 litres of tap water to produce 1 litre of almond drink.
4. The carbon footprint of a litre of British milk is around 1.25kg CO2e36 compared to a global average of 2.9kg CO2e per litre 
5. UK dairy cows are the most climate friendly in the world. There are 278 million dairy cows worldwide. If they were all as efficient as UK dairy cows, we WOULD ONLY NEED AROUND 76 MILLION of them to produce the same amount of milk.

The RABDF has produced draft social media posts, newsletter snippets, visuals and posters that are free to copy and paste from their website at rabdf.co.uk/emissions. 

RABDF Managing Director Matt Knight said: "We want to make it as easy as possible for people to spread the good work of the dairy industry and reinforce the fact dairy products aren't only good for human health, they are also good for the planet too."

For your free visuals, social media posts and more on greenhouse gas emissions from the dairy sector, please visit www.rabdf.co.uk/emissions