Some companies challenged the findings in the report, however, two European dairy companies, TINE in Norway, and Emmi Group, in Switzerland, have both recently stated their ambitions to be ahead of the curve when it comes to emissions.
TINE wants to be Europe's most climate-friendly dairy company
By 2025, TINE said it has the ambition to have Europe's lowest greenhouse gas emissions per liter of milk delivered to the consumer.
The goal involves both transportation and production.
"We are already well on our way to the goal," Lars Galtung, TINE director of communication and corporate social responsibility, said.
TINE's dairies currently use energy that is more than 80% renewable. And by 2025, all its dairies and transport companies will be using renewable energy sources.
The company has ordered Nikola One trucks, which run on electric motors powered by hydrogen.
"We have come so far in the green shift on the production side that we are no longer talking about opportunities, but concrete results," said Galtung.
He also noted that TINE also currently fills vehicles with biogas derived from cow manure at Greve Biogass in Vestfold.
Improvements at farm level
In TINE farmers’ dairies there are also measures being undertaken to replace fossil energy.
Many have replaced fossil energy sources with bioenergy, such as woodchips, while others focus on solar cells and wind power. TINE has also developed an environmental calculator that gives farmers an overview of GHG emissions per liter of milk produced.
"Together with good climate advice from our advisory corps, the farmer can implement many effective measures both in relation to feed composition and when harvesting the grass in terms of fiber content. Some of the measures can, in total, give 20% lower methane emissions from the cows,” Galtung said.
Emmi looks to transparency
Swiss dairy company Emmi announced it has participated in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), as it commits to reducing its global CO2 emissions by 25% by 2020.
Emmi said it wants to be fully transparent with regard to GHG emissions.
The company said the CDP global non-profit organization gave Emmi the third-highest rating of B.
“This places us well above the average both within our industry and within our region (German-speaking countries),” Emmi said.
Emmi disclosed its global emission data for the first time in the summer 2017 CDP survey.
The company said it also achieved an above-average rating for handling and measuring of emissions as well as its risk management approach to climate change.
Gerold Schatt, head of sustainability, Emmi, said, “This result is testament to the fact that we have established a solid foundation and defined ambitious targets. However, we are also fully aware that this is just a small step on the road to the decarbonisation of society.
“We fully intend to, and must, continue on this road. We all have to do our bit.”