New Zealand beef and lamb among the most carbon efficient in world
Research has confirmed the carbon footprint of New Zealand beef and lamb is amongst the lowest in the world.
The comprehensive study by AgResearch has found that a kilo of New Zealand lamb has a carbon footprint of just under 15 kilograms (kgs) of CO2 equivalent emissions per kilo.
Meanwhile, the carbon footprint of New Zealand beef is just under 22kgs – making the country’s red meat among the most efficient in the world.
Dr. Stewart Ledgard, lead study researcher at AgResearch, says accurately measuring and reporting the environmental impact of products has never been more critical to creating a sustainable future.
“New Zealand has a good story to tell in terms of the traditional methodology.”
The researchers, which compared New Zealand’s on-farm emissions to a range of countries’ footprints across the globe, concluded that even when New Zealand beef or lamb is exported across the globe, the total carbon footprint is lower or very similar to domestically-produced red meat in those nations.
This is because New Zealand is so efficient at the farm level, which represents about 90-95% of the total carbon footprint. New Zealand’s on-farm footprint was about half the average of the other countries compared in the study.
NZ’s on-farm footprint was about half the average of the other countries
Based on the research, an analysis by Beef + Lamb New Zealand and MIA shows eating red meat 2-3 times a week, over the course of an entire year, is just under the carbon footprint of a single passenger’s return flight from Auckland to Christchurch.
However, while the research shows New Zealand sheep and beef farmers are among the most efficient in the world, continuous improvement is required.
The NZ sheep & beef sector has decreased its GHG emissions by 30% since 1990
New Zealand sheep and beef farmers are making outstanding progress in improving the sector’s carbon footprint, through world-best animal husbandry, by planting and retaining trees and other woody vegetation on-farm to absorb greenhouse gas emissions and pioneering the use of low-methane animals.
More on the research:
The LCA uses a “cradle to grave” approach that accounts for all GHG emissions associated with all inputs and processes at all stages of the lifecycle. It includes wastes and end-of-life emissions (e.g. from packaging, food-waste and effluents) as well as shipping and transportation. The report conducted a literature review that looked at 12 studies for beef and nine for sheep.
Frequently asked questions:
How was the research conducted? The researchers compared New Zealand’s on-farm emissions to a range of countries’ cradle-to-grave footprints across the globe (12 for beef, 9 for sheep). The LCA comparison was calculated using the standard GWP100 approach for converting methane to carbon dioxide equivalent to enable valid international comparisons.
What does “one of the best in the world” mean? Most studies of livestock look at the carbon footprint of animals up until the farm gate and use the GWP100 metric to calculate this. Farm gate means calculating a liveweight footprint. When looking at international studies New Zealand is amongst the smallest footprints. For sheepmeat this means in a band of 6 to 23kg CO2-e, NZ sits at 6.01 kg CO2-e kg and the average is 14.2kg Co2-e kg. For beef the band is 6.68 to 31 kg CO2-e kg, New Zealand sits at 8.97 kg CO2-e kg and the average is 14.1 kg CO2-e kg.
What about the food miles? More than 90 percent of a sheep and cattle animal's emissions occur on farm. The transport and packaging are minor in comparison to the overall figure, and when put together with the on-farm emissions, still represent a similar or a lower figure than the overall emissions from a domestically produced product overseas. This means that international consumers can buy New Zealand beef and sheepmeat without worrying that food miles are causing more climate damage than buying local. How can we trust this information? Researchers Stewart Ledgard, Andre Mazzetto and Sally Falconer are academics from AgResearch, a New Zealand Government-owned Crown Research Institute. The report has been published in The Environment Review Assessment, which means it has been peer reviewed and held up to academic rigour.
What is climate neutrality? The FAO notes that climate neutrality is “a situation where an organisation or industry is making no additional contribution to radiative forcing (and) could be regarded as consistent with climate stabilisation and described as climate neutral. This does not resolve the question of what an acceptable level of radiative forcing from this organisation or industry is.” With New Zealand sheepmeat having reduced the amount of emissions by 32 percent from 1990 and on-farm sequestration absorbing a proportion of the remaining emissions, the average carbon footprint of sheepmeat is -0.32kg CO2-e. It has created zero additional warming for over twenty years. But as noted by the FAO, some account also needs to be given to ongoing warming.