Introduction – The Role of Dairy Processing in a Net-Zero Future

Decarbonizing dairy across the full supply chain is critical to achieving global climate targets. Dairy processing, as a key link between farm and consumer, plays a central role in this transformation. It is one of the most energy- and resource-intensive stages of the value chain, yet it offers significant opportunities to cut emissions through efficiency improvements, electrification, and integration of renewable energy.

The P2DNZ Dairy Processing Task Force was launched in 2023 with industry leadership from Tetra Pak, as a pre-competitive global forum dedicated to helping the dairy sector rapidly reduce Scope 1 emissions, those generated directly from processing operations. This collaborative effort reflects a shared commitment to innovation and transparency, ensuring that solutions are practical, science-based, and aligned with global net-zero ambitions.

Lower energy and water use translates into cost savings and operational resilience, while cutting carbon footprints supports climate goals and strengthens trust in dairy as a sustainable source of nutrition. Innovation in dairy processing can help build a more efficient and climate-resilient food system while continuing to deliver the nutritional benefits of dairy.

Fermented yoghurt processing in focus: products, process, and challenges

Chilled dairy lines produce a wide range of fermented products that depend on controlled heating, rapid cooling, and hygienic handling to ensure product safety, texture, and stability. Yoghurt production requires additional steps compared with pasteurised milk processing: yoghurt milk is pasteurised, homogenised, cooled to incubation temperature, inoculated with cultures, fermented under controlled conditions, and then chilled to stop fermentation at the desired acidity and texture.

These lines typically produce stirred yoghurt, set yoghurt, drinking yoghurt, and other cultured dairy products such as kefir, ayran, laban, quark, and concentrated yoghurt. Their main advantage is delivering diverse, high‑quality fermented products with consistent taste, mouthfeel, and nutritional benefits.

The challenge: fermentation and incubation require precise temperature control, creating high energy demand, while rapid cooling is needed to stabilise the product and maintain chilled conditions. Water‑intensive Clean‑in‑Place (CIP) cleaning cycles and product losses during transitions or mix phases further increase resource use. Although chilled fermentation lines offer opportunities to reclaim heat and reduce cooling loads, many traditional systems under‑utilise this potential, increasing their environmental footprint.

Building on Taskforce discussions, a set of proven, ready‑to‑deploy solutions has been identified to drive carbon reduction, water efficiency, and loss prevention for this line.

Ready-to-deploy solutions for Fermented yoghurt processing lines

Reducing energy consumption

Heat Regeneration & Heat Exchanger Optimisation:

• Indirect heating loops recover hot water and steam condensate.
• Heat pumps reclaim cooling energy from chilled storage and upgrade it to hot water.
• Proper insulation reduces energy losses across tanks and tubular heat exchangers.

Reducing product losses, energy & water consumption

• 30–40% electricity reduction (less cooling & pumping).
• 35–45% lower heating energy.
• Reduced CIP frequency and lower water use.
• Up to 40–50% lower product losses for viscous products.

 

The Optimised Chilled Yoghurt Line reduces unnecessary storage and transitions. Milk flows directly from standardisation to pasteurisation to fermentation with lower volumes and fewer CIP cycles.

Image: Example of the line without pasteurisation (raw milk storage, separator, standardisation unit, pasteuriser, homogeniser, fermentation, cooling, storage, filling)

Estimated impact: carbon, water, and loss reduction

Tetra Pak have worked with the Carbon Trust, who have reviewed and aligned the assessment with best practice frameworks like the WBCSD’s Avoided Emissions Guidance and the Net Carbon Impact Methodology from the European Green Digital Coalition.

This assessment compared best available lines from 2019, used as a representative of traditional lines, with market-ready solutions in 2025 for carbon, water, and product loss reduction, like the ones described in this document.

Implementing a recommended set of best-practice solutions across existing pasteurised milk processing lines can reduce emissions by up to 40% compared with the best-available line in 2019. At a global level, this could deliver potential annual savings of 1.1 mtCO₂e in 2025 if applied across all pasteurized milk processing lines worldwide. Actual impact may vary by site, and reductions could be from 40% up to 54% in facilities powered by 100% renewable electricity.

Water use can be reduced by up to 36%, and product losses by up to 17% compared to 2019 benchmarks.

Scaling solutions: the role of policy and investment

Meeting global climate targets demands urgent action in food systems, and dairy processing is a critical lever.

Deploying available solutions at scale can lower operating costs, improve resource efficiency, and strengthen competitiveness. With supportive policies and targeted investments, the sector can accelerate deployment of these technologies, attract green financing, create jobs in clean technology, and position dairy as a leader in sustainable growth. With the right policies and partnerships, we can make this stage of the value chain more sustainable and resilient, ensuring dairy processing becomes more sustainable while maintaining the sector’s economic viability.