Discussing the drive to Net Zero

Tiphaine Aries of the Carbon Trust spoke at the Dairy Industries EXPO about the issue of, Driving Dairy towards Net Zero on 29 October 2025. “We all know the UK food sector contributes to UK emissions and faces quite a few challenges. With net zero as a trajectory, with internal and external pressure, how do you properly quantify data from your upstream, accounting correctly for what’s being done?” she asked. “There is also a lot of pressure on capital expenditure, with lots of different technologies available.”

The challenges are fairly complex, she noted. “The challenge around CAPEX and the retrofitting of plants is that you need it to make business sense. The external pressures UK commitments and the different dairy pathways presented, shows the importance of collaboration across the chain.

“On the consumer side, the increase in demand for dairy globally means we have to look at how do we produce more sustainable dairy, with more transparency and lower carbon products. The climate risks and opportunities need to make sense for the business and strategies, as a stronger way forward for the organisation,” she observed.

Government policy and financial incentives also have an impact on making changes, Aries noted. “There are also changing legislation expectations and carbon taxes, so businesses should see this as an opportunity to create growth. It’s about a focus on the opportunities and a new landscape and push to lower carbon products.”

There is a fair amount of innovation on-farm, she said. “We do see lot of farming trials happening, with increases in technology and innovation trials, with more circular systems. There is also increasing feedstocks for animals from waste from the drinks industries. There is some disruptions in yield and productivity on farms, but all these risks create opportunities. There is more opportunity for the farming side to take advantage of carbon sequestration and soil sequestration.”

After working to secure scope 1 and scope 2 improvements, the next step is scope 3, which is about the whole food chain system and footprinting. “It’s about everything from farming to tackling processing logistics and packaging, and transitioning between the last mile of delivery space. New technology is shifting the way we look at dairy processing, with renewables, different types of energy, waste optimisation, process efficiency, packaging innovation, different specifications, lots of opportunity, using lower carbon materials and altering the recycling content all key parts of the equation.

“Regenerative agriculture has been around for hundreds of years, and is not a new thing. It is definitely gaining traction for being more integrated. It’s all about how we create a farming system that works together – animals, crops systems and landscapes – not working against nature but working with nature. These lead to biodiversity benefits, and to financial benefit in the medium to longer term,” she noted.