THE GREENHOUSE GAS emissions of Irish meat processing company ABP are estimated in a new report to have increased by 45% between 2016 and 2018.
The report by non-profit organisation the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) looked at the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) of the largest meat and dairy companies in Europe.
Three companies headquartered in Ireland – ABP, Dawn Meats and Glanbia PLC Group – are included in the report, alongside some of the biggest players in the industry such as Danish Crown, Lactalis, Arla Foods and Nestlé.
The three Irish firms accounted for just over 3.5% of the total European meat and dairy sector emissions in 2018, while in the same year, ABP and Dawn Meats accounted for just over 7.5% of emissions from the beef sector alone across the EU and UK.
The findings were calculated by estimating the quantity of meat and milk processed per year by each company, and determining the amount of GHG emissions produced for every kilogram of beef, pork, poultry and milk using UN standards.
The report found that Ireland was the sixth biggest country for bovine meat production in the EU in 2018.
It ranked in tenth place overall for meat production of beef, pork or poultry and seventh for the production of dairy.
In Ireland, figures from the Environmental Protection Agency show that the agriculture sector accounted for 37% of the country’s total GHG emissions in 2020. From 2015 to 2020, dairy cow numbers in Ireland increased by almost one-fifth, the EPA said.
It examined five poultry companies which emit the equivalent of 20% of the total GHG emissions in the EU poultry sector.
But of these, the report said only three partially report their emissions and none have emissions reduction targets.
Irish meat and dairy companies
Glanbia, ABP and Dawn Meats are among the half of the 20 companies examined in close detail that have announced some kind of company-wide climate target.
The report said meat processor ABP claims to have reduced cumulative carbon emissions by 350,000 tones since 2008. This is the equivalent of the emissions from almost 70,000 cars driven for a year.
As the company does not publicly report the number of animals it kills per year, the report notes that it is “hard to verify” emissions claims.
ABP was contacted for comment by The Journal on the report but received no response prior to publication.
Irish processing company Dawn Meats also features in the report. The company’s claims around climate targets and emissions reduction are “hard to examine”, the report found.
The report estimates that, responding to calls to transition away from large-scale industrial livestock production, Dawn Meats said the assertion that the world must significantly reduce herd numbers is “overly simplistic”.
It said the company instead advocates for other measures such as reducing the animal age at slaughter, optimising feed and lowering emissions from slurry spreading.
Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue suggested last month that cattle could be slaughtered earlier in their lifespan to help achieve a reduction in methane emissions.
McConalogue said this would have a “significant impact” on reducing emissions “without necessarily reducing the herd” of cattle in Ireland.
A spokesperson for Dawn Meats directed towards the company’s most recent sustainability report for 2019-2021.
The report said the company has committed to reducing Scope 1 and 2 absolute emissions by 30%.
Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from companies and Scope 2 are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, heating and cooling consumed by the company.
The company claimed that in 2020, it achieved a reduction of 248,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent in absolute emissions covered by science-based targets. This is equivalent to the emissions from almost 50,000 cars driven for one year.
Dawn Meats also said it invests €1 million per year in on-farm sustainability projects.
The government wants to “stabilise the national herd”. Last month, Ireland was one of more than 80 countries who signed a pledge to slash methane emissions by 30% by the end of the decade.
Methane is a greenhouse gas caused largely by livestock.
The report also mentioned dairy company Glanbia PLC group, another global corporation based in Ireland, which claimed it is committed to a “net zero or negative carbon footprint” for its business and supply chain.
The company accounted for 4.36% of the EU’s total dairy sector emissions in 2018.
‘Rivals fossil fuel giants’
Shefali Sharma, European director at the IATP, said that the “climate footprint” of Europe’s large meat and dairy companies “rival the fossil fuel giants”.
The report found that Europe’s 20 largest meat and dairy companies produce almost one-third more greenhouse gas emissions than the Netherlands, which is the sixth largest economy in the EU.
The companies collectively produce almost five times as many emissions as the whole of Denmark, a country of almost six million people.
The report said the “trends are clear” that big meat and dairy companies in Europe are “moving in the wrong direction”.
“No European government holds these companies accountable for their supply chain emissions, even as agriculture emissions have risen in the last decade,” the report said.
Overall emissions in Europe
The report also found that 86% of all meat and dairy in the EU and UK comes from just ten European countries, including Ireland.
“For a transformative change in European agriculture, these ten countries, in particular, and the EU as a whole must regulate meat and dairy companies,” the report said.
The emissions of 35 of the largest meat and dairy companies with headquarters in Europe amount to almost 7% of the EU’s total GHG emissions in 2018.
A Noteworthy investigation from earlier this year found that Irish companies are getting better at voluntarily declaring their emissions – but several State bodies are still holding data from the public.
A recent analysis of emissions data found that 100 companies were responsible for 71% of global emissions between 1988 and 2017.
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