Methane reduction in livestock farming facing test of implementation

Despite some options for the reduction of methane emissions from livestock farming being already available, the challenge now facing EU lawmakers is how to set up policy frameworks for the uptake of these tools and techniques among farmers.

Methane is a greenhouse gas (GHG) that, despite being short-lived, has more heat-trapping power than carbon dioxide, trapping 84 times more heat over 20 years.

Enteric fermentation – gassy emissions from ruminant animals such as dairy and beef cattle – is considered the most significant source of methane in human-related activities.

The livestock sector represents 53% of methane emissions domestically, explained Nusa Urbancic, campaigns director of the foundation Changing Markets, at a recent EURACTIV event.

“If you look at it from a very conservative perspective, this is around 50 coal power plants. But if you look at that on a 20-year basis – which is what we should be doing according to IPCC – it becomes 160 coal power plants,” she added.

For Sifra Bol, project manager at Wageningen University, methane emission reduction can be achieved in a number of different ways.

“The challenge is not in finding techniques that work, because we have them. The main problem is in how we implement those and how can we encourage farmers to use these techniques”, she adds.

Last year, a coalition of countries signed the first global commitment to cut methane emissions by at least 30% below 2020 levels by 2030 at the UN climate conference COP26 in Glasgow.

The initiative was led by the US and the EU, which gathered together 103 other countries that, when combined, account for 46% of global methane emissions and represent 70% of the world economy. They included several cattle-rich countries like Brazil, Canada, Argentina, and New Zealand.

The global pledge also focuses on technical measures such as animal feed supplements which, according to the UN, can cut emissions in the sector by 20% a year until 2030.

Agricultural implications of the COP26 methane pledge

The agriculture sector, one of the world’s most significant contributors of methane, will be directly impacted by the first global commitment to cut methane emissions by at least 30% below 2020 levels by 2030.

CAP and other policy efforts

Apart from the COP26 pledge, some policy efforts have been made at the EU level to reduce GHG emissions and methane ones in particular.

In 2021, the EU lawmakers adopted the Climate Law which sets up a path to climate neutrality by 2050, including a provision saying that by 2030 the EU has to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55%.

“It’s not a legislation which is in place yet,” commented Lukas Visek, a member of the cabinet of Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans. “But I would like to strongly believe that it will be in place relatively soon,” he continued.

He also mentioned two other important policy frameworks that can reduce GHG emissions. One is the industrial emissions directive whose reform has been recently presented by the EU executive, and the second is the Farm to Fork strategy, the food chapter of the European Green Deal, which “sets the path towards making the food systems in the EU sustainable.”

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) can play an important role as well. According to Visek, many measures for methane emission reductions such as the use of feed additives, better manure management and biogas, can be supported through the EU’s farming subsidies programme.

Member states are currently in talks with the Commission for the adoption of their national strategic plans through which they will outline how they intend to meet the nine EU-wide objectives of the CAP reform.

“Don’t get me wrong: this is not a silver bullet, there is no single instrument that we should be using. But the CAP is there, if someone tells you it cannot be touched, they are wrong,” warned Visek.

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Meat consumption conundrum

Another option often mentioned for methane reduction is cutting down the amount of red meat consumed.

“But Brussels is not in the business of telling people what to eat, or what not to eat”, pointed out Visek, adding that reducing meat consumption is a sensitive issue to touch on.

According to the Commission’s representative, the EU can just inform people “on what impacts their choices have on the planet, on the climate, and on their wallets as well.”

The approach was criticised by Green MEP Jutta Paulus, who said that the EU should not rely on voluntary measures to generate certain effects.

She said that, if asked about that, 40-50% of people would opt for organic food. “But if you look at the actual numbers of how much organic food is bought in the supermarket or ordered in restaurants, that number shrinks,” she added.

Likewise, Changing Markets’ Urbancic said that without showing more leadership and supporting a just transition toward a more sustainable production system, the EU is at risk of falling behind in terms of innovation when it comes to sustainable food systems.

For her, health dietary recommendations would represent the lion’s share of the efforts in this sense at the EU level, generating 15-19% of methane reductions by 2030.

Among other possible measures, she mentioned biogas and better manure management leading to between 4-7% of methane reductions while feed additives and selective breeding are estimated to cut methane emissions by between 1-12%.

[Edited by Gerardo Fortuna/Nathalie Weatherald]

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