Statement on Net Zero

The conversation around agriculture and climate change has become increasingly dominated by the concept of achieving Net Zero, which is a balance between greenhouse gas emissions produced and those removed from the atmosphere. However, the pathways and methodologies used to define and measure progress towards this goal often oversimplify the complexity of natural systems and farming practices. Within this policy landscape, livestock agriculture is frequently identified as a major contributor to emissions, with limited distinction made between industrial, high-input production systems and low-input, nature-based systems predominantly operating within the boundaries of a closed carbon cycle.

Pasture for Life recognises the urgency of addressing climate change and supports evidence-based approaches to reducing emissions. Yet we believe that achieving meaningful climate action in food and farming must be grounded in an understanding of whole-system impacts, including biodiversity, soil function, and ecosystem health - not just carbon metrics.

We do have concerns about the methodology used to assess farm and sector level emissions as we know the data do not exist for 100% pasture fed, low to no input ruminant systems, and so in terms of our membership and certified farms we are deeply concerned that they are not just under represented, but unrepresented in terms of assessment. Furthermore, the linear input/output emissions assessments, whilst effective for reflecting linear processes, do not reflect the natural cycles many of our members are working with in their biodiversity based, agroecological farm systems. We are working with a number of academics to support them to identify and address those gaps.

As we have concerns about the way emissions and carbon flows and sequestration are measured, this leads to concerns about how many organisations suggest net zero is achieved. Often this is represented by reducing livestock numbers or using various inputs to reduce emissions. We also have concerns that policy and organisations often conflate total emissions and emissions intensity, which are very different measures.