Joyce Tait contributed to CIEL’s latest report highlighting the urgent need for innovations in technology, services and management approaches to achieve the UK livestock sector’s Net Zero ambitions.
The authors of the report estimate that current technologies and practices will only achieve a fraction of the 64% reduction in carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 2050, the target set by the UK Committee for Climate Change for UK agriculture and land use.
The report considers 11 areas of innovation across Health and Genetics, Nutrition, Waste and Land that could bridge this emissions gap and accelerate progress towards widespread emissions reductions. These include vaccination against endemic diseases, genetic improvement, novel feeds, manure management and optimising soil carbon sequestration.
The Innogen Institute contribution considers the need for an enabling innovation ecosystem to accelerate the development and uptake of emerging technologies and includes a case study based on the 2021 report “Fish farming in Scotland: Optimising its contribution to climate and environmental policies” by Amy McGoohan and colleagues. In addition to innovation-friendly policies and regulations, multi-stakeholder collaborations will help translate innovative products from proof-of-concept stage to market.
“Novel feeds and circular economy innovations that increase feed efficiency, improve animal health and nutrient quality are all key to reducing emissions from the livestock sector, however, if we are to bridge this emissions reduction gap, the barriers holding back the adoption of these innovations need to be identified and removed,” says Prof. Joyce Tait, Founding Director of the Innogen Institute at The University of Edinburgh.
The full report can be downloaded here:
https://cielivestock.co.uk/expertise/net-zero-and-livestock-bridging-the-gap-july-2023/