Beef carbon footprint guideline to promote consistent approach

A global beef carbon footprint guideline has been launched in an attempt to achieve consistency in the calculation of the carbon impact of beef production.

It has been developed by the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (GRSB) and is based on United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) guidance, which covers:

•  Quantifying emissions from birth to farm gate or birth to processor gate
• Monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions through time for a specific system
• Identifying main drivers for greenhouse gas emissions in the beef cattle life cycle
• Complementing work in the dairy sector, also based on FAO guidelines.

The GRSB is a worldwide network of the people and organisations promoting progress in sustainable beef production. It has more than 500 members in 24 countries. Collectively, they account for more than two-thirds of cross-border beef trade.

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GRSB executive director Ruaraidh Petre said: “A key part of GRSB’s mission is to ensure transparency when it comes to evaluating and reporting key sustainability metrics. However, the global beef carbon footprint has, to date, been challenging to effectively track and report.”