Aldi backs Arla farmers’ emissions reduction efforts

The money will be invested through mid 2027 and back Arla’s FarmAhead Customer Partnership, a new initiative aimed at supporting farmers’ GHG emissions reduction efforts on farm.

This means the discount supermarket chain will partner in farming projects that ‘aim to accelerate more sustainable farming practices and decarbonize dairy’, according to a press statement.

Arla aims to become ‘carbon net zero’ by 2050 and reduce CO2e emissions by 2030, including 63% reduction in production, owned logistics and energy usage; and 30% reduction on farms and of emissions from sourced whey, third party logistics and packaging. (These are SBTi-approved targets.)

The vast majority (81%) of the co-op’s GHG emissions happen on-farm, however. Here, the co-op targets a 30% reduction of CO2e emissions per kg of milk by 2030 and says it’s reduced on-farm CO2e emissions per kg of raw milk and whey by 9% from 2015 (its baseline year) to 2022.

Arla collects and externally validates climate data sets from its dairy farms, with 99% of Arla’s owner milk volume having been assessed to determine the impact of the herd, feed production and energy use, with the co-op running an incentives program tied to the milk price to stimulate the voluntary data-sharing.

From the archive: Arla’s Sustainability Incentive explained​

In its sustainability plan​, the co-op defines ‘the big 5’ most effective climate actions on farm as feed efficiency (increasing milk production per feed input); protein efficiency (reducing protein surplus in feed ration); animal robustness (using breeding to increase yield efficiency); fertilizer use (reducing nitrogen surplus from feed production), and land use (improved crop yields).

Liz Fox, National Sustainability Director at Aldi UK, said: "At Aldi, our commitment to responsible sourcing is at the heart of everything we do. Our strengthened partnership with Arla allows us to better support farmers while driving positive change in the UK’s dairy sector.​

“This investment reflects our long-standing relationship with Arla and our dedication to delivering high-quality dairy products to our customers,”

Tim Dale, Arla farmer and member of the ADFP since 2018 added: "We’re incredibly proud of our ongoing relationship with Aldi, which has spanned 6 years. ​

“This investment marks another milestone in our shared goal of supporting dairy farmers to produce quality milk that is made in the best possible way.  We are excited to continue working closely on initiatives that create a better future for dairy farming.”