Foodservice operators have joined forces with retailers, processors, wholesalers and farmers to commit to more sustainable production of dairy products.
A newly updated Dairy Roadmap is being billed as a first-of-its-kind, cross-industry coalition focused on achieving net-zero, protecting nature and upholding the highest standards of animal welfare.
The roadmap began life as the Milk Roadmap in 2008 and expanded in 2011 to encompass all dairy products, with targets for farmers and processors in areas such as water, climate change and energy, waste and recycling, and packaging. These include a target to achieve net-zero by 2050, in line with the UK Government’s legally binding national target.
The roadmap’s work to-date has largely focused on data capture, including carbon footprint calculations, rather than active decarbonisation.
The updated roadmap will bring together the full dairy value chain under one governance structure. A new steering group has been established to set its strategic direction; it will include representatives from AHDB, Dairy UK, NFU, Arla Foods UK, Dale Farm, First Milk, Lactalis UK & Ireland, Müller UK & Ireland, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, McDonald’s and Sysco GB.
The plan is for a new ‘Sustainable dairy pathways report’ to be produced in 2026 that will highlight the funding and innovations needed to achieve net-zero and other key climate and nature goals.
“We have to find ways of feeding a growing population and providing nutrient-dense foods that nourish people,” said Bas Padberg, chair of the dairy roadmap and managing director of Arla Foods UK. “Dairy has a key role to play in this, but we know that as an industry, we also need to ensure that we limit our impact on the environment and bring down emissions.”
The roadmap has not set targets relating to dairy consumption, however a UK food system transition plan, produced last year by IGD, Wrap and the consultancy EY, modelled that the equivalent of a 20% reduction in red meat and dairy is required by 2050 to achieve net-zero, a more conservative scenario than the 20% by 2030 modelled by the Climate Change Committee.
The system-wide plan also emphasised the importance of specific sector transition plans. Writing on LinkedIn, IGD chief executive Sarah Bradbury welcomed the “collaborative and inclusive approach” of the new Dairy Roadmap.
