OSI Europe Tackles Greenhouse Gas Emission Intensity

August 28, 2020

With climate change an area of concern for us all, individuals and businesses alike are taking more steps to consider their impact on the environment, and how they could contribute to a more sustainable future.

At OSI Europe, we’re finding solutions and adopting measures to help reduce the carbon intensity of our entire organization.

With the business targeting 2025 to reduce total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 30%, we’re working with partners and suppliers across the agri-food supply chain to help this goal become reality. One example of this is our partnership with the European Roundtable for Beef Sustainability (ERBS) and the work we are doing with our farmers to tackle some of the big issues facing the agricultural sector.

OSI EUROPE CARBON FOOTPRINT PILOT STUDY

To date, measuring livestock production GHG emissions has been an industry wide challenge. However, OSI Europe is implementing measures to understand and help reduce the carbon footprint intensity of dairy-beef systems in Poland and Germany.

For this, OSI Europe will be using the Cool Farm Tool to carry out on-farm carbon footprint assessments which will capture a robust pool of data, that is representative of different farming systems across multiple countries.

HOW WILL THE DATA BE USED?

The online tool requires information on general farm data, herd numbers, feed types, intakes and grazing, as well as manure management and energy consumption which producers can enter themselves.

Once all the data has been submitted, the tool calculates the overall carbon footprint per kilogram of meat produced for each farm. This can then be collaborated and analyzed to formulate a robust baseline figure for each country.

From this information, practical recommendations are to be put forward to producers allowing them to reduce on-farm GHG emissions and improve farm sustainability, efficiency and profitability due to better management.

The aim is for carbon footprint assessments to be completed on an annual basis, so that any changes in emissions can be seen and recorded. Once the pilot study is complete, the intention is to scale-up the project to allow more producers to benefit from this method.

This approach will mean OSI Europe will have access to accurate data which can be used to better understand where emissions can be reduced on-farm, and demonstrate that progress is being made towards reaching our 2025 sustainability goal and the targets set out by the ERBS.

Environmental sustainability is high on the agenda for the livestock industry and for us as a business, and therefore it is important we take a collaborative approach, and work closely with our partners and producers to meet the targets outlined.