British farming plans to slash emissions

We’d love to keep sharing our exciting developments in the Global Good community with you, but you’ll need to ‘opt-in’ to our communications. Read more about how we protect your data here >>

British farming plans to slash emissions

The National Farmers Union (NFU) has unveiled its vision of how British farming hopes to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.

The new report, Achieving Net Zero: Farming’s 2040 Goal, sets out three pillars that will help the industry reach its ambitious goal.

The three pillars are:

Improving farming’s productive efficiency;
Improving land management and changing land use to capture more carbon;
Boosting renewable energy and the wider bio-economy.

The first of these is about reducing our own emissions, using a wide variety of techniques to enhance productivity and deliver the same output or more from every farm, working smarter to use fewer inputs.

The second is about increasing farming’s ability to capture more carbon though bigger hedgerows, more trees and woodland, enhancing soil organic matter and conserving existing carbon stores in grassland and pasture.

The third theme involves displacing GHG emissions from fossil fuels and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through bioenergy and bio-based materials like hemp fibre and sheep’s wool.

NFU President Minette Batters said: “There is no doubt that climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time and rising rapidly on the political agenda both at home and globally.

“Representing British farming, we recognise our unique position as both a source and a store for greenhouse gas emissions and, importantly, how we can build on our work so far to deliver climate neutral farming in the next 20 years.

“That is why we must work across a range of internationally recognised inventories and utilise the best available science, working in partnership with concerted support from government, stakeholders and the wider supply chain. This ‘white paper’ provides a strong foundation on which to talk to others about joining us on our journey.

“We mean what we say about delivering against this aspiration and we have a sense of urgency for what is needed to achieve it. We need to implement pilots of the new Environmental Land Management scheme and productivity scheme to see how these work practically on the ground, as they will play a key part in achieving net zero. A new shared prosperity fund for rural development also needs to be in place and support from the current Industrial Strategy is crucial.”