Australia’s red meat industry is set on going carbon neutral by 2030, an ambitious target that became a key topic of discussion during New York’s 2019 Climate Week.
Jointly hosted by the UN and the City of New York, Climate Week is a global forum that hosts political and business leaders as they discuss options to accelerate climate action. As a representative of the world’s first red meat industry to commit itself towards carbon neutrality, MLA’s Manager of Sustainability Strategy and Stakeholders, Pip Band was in attendance to discuss the role livestock and grasslands can play in support of a 1.5-degree future.
As custodians of the land livestock producers are ideally placed to help implement nature-based solutions to carbon emissions. Often charged with land that is unable to support alternative methods of food production, graziers manage grasslands and savannahs that offer unparalleled opportunities when used for carbon storage. According to CSIRO even a 0.8% per year increase of organic carbon stock within the soil of these areas could totally mitigate Australia’s national annual greenhouse gas emissions.
Both Australia and the EU have recognised the benefits of soil carbon sequestration, but in spite of this policymakers, customers and civil society still overlook graziers and treat their industry as an opponent rather than an ally. Climate action requires continuous progress and MLA’s Pip Band made it clear on a global stage that empowering graziers with practices that build soil carbon will prove vital to feeding the planet, reducing emissions and safeguarding biosecurity.
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ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITYLIVESTOCK EMISSIONSON FARM
Article Date: 28th October 2019
