Dutch dairy industry on track to reduce CO2 emissions

This month, KWA Bedrijfsadviseurs – a leading consultancy company – published a report in which they investigated the extent to which the Dutch dairy industry is on track to reduce CO2 emissions towards 2030. The conclusion is that the dairy factories will contribute to the reduction targets of the Dutch industry with their proposed plans for CO2 emission reduction.

The report has firstly drawn the CO2 reduction line for the dairy industry up to 2030 (red dotted line in figure). This theoretical CO2 reduction line is based on updated targets and developments in European and national legislation and regulations that apply to the dairy industry. This reduction line concerns the so-called scope 1 emissions; the chimney emissions at the production location. These emissions are mainly caused by natural gas combustion within the dairy industry.

Next to this scope 1 CO2 reduction line, another line is drawn up for the CO2 emission reduction from energy saving plans of the Dutch dairy factories (blue and green line in figure) (1). The overview of the lines in the figure below shows that in 2030 according to thes plans the dairy factories will achieve its contribution to the reduction in 2030.

There are big challenges in order to make the dairy factories more sustainable. It’s an enormous achievement that the dairy industry will deliver. The analysis of all the measures that need to be taken shows that the most important ones concern process heat and electrification. When implementing these measures, the dairy factories – operating as a large energy consumer, often located in rural areas – encounter a number of preconditions; inadequate infrastructure for the use of alternative fuels (think of green electricity for electrification measures), but also permits for laying cables and converting the factory, which in itself is necessary due to the implementation of CO2 emission reduction measures. In addition, the measures entail high costs and the question is whether the unprofitable top costs can be removed by subsidies.

Reducing the ecological footprint – dairy companies speak out
The dairy industry in the Netherlands is a global leader in quality and innovation and the Netherlands are facing challenging times in regard to ​​sustainability. In a series of stories, dairy companies themselves tell how they are working on reducing their ecological footprint, with a focus on what happens in the dairy factories.

(1) Starting point is that the electricity consumption is generated green; so there is no scope 2 CO2 emission from electricity.