While farmers are often in the spotlight for how they are addressing on-farm emissions, dairy processors can also drive progress toward environmental impact goals by improving production efficiencies.
Production-related emissions, which fall in the Scope 1 category, have less of a total impact than the on-farm Scope 3 emissions, but can still play a key role in reducing the environmental impact of the dairy value chain.
In 2023, Pathways to Dairy Net Zero (P2DNZ) kicked off its Dairy Processing Task Force with the webinar, Latest Advances in Dairy Processing Technologies to Tackle GHG Emissions, and has brought together companies that are discussing ways to streamline the dairy production process to cut emissions and improve other sustainability outcomes.
The task force, sponsored by Tetra Pak, is open to all dairy companies and equipment suppliers and is focused on developing realistic, achievable solutions in the short term while keeping a pulse on potential future developments on and over the horizon.
“The purpose of this task force is to bring the dairy processing industry together pre-competitively and to find solutions to lower emissions, through member input and understanding of what the industry is experiencing,” said Heinrich Iversen, Processing Director at Tetra Pak, which is the sponsor of the workstream
The task force will work methodically through all areas of the dairy processing facility. The scope of each of the areas will include the following:
- Evaluate each step to see if it can be avoided, finding alternatives where possible.
- Optimize processes to reduce emissions where avoidance is not feasible.
- Identify opportunities to recover and exchange energy with other processes.
- List legislative restrictions on Best Solutions, highlighting where external action is needed.
- Establish an energy consumption baseline for future impact measurement.
The next event for the Dairy Processing Task Force is an in-person workshop on May 28-30 in Chicago. The meeting will start with a reception on the night of May 28, a full-day workshop on May 29 and a half-day on May 30.
This workshop will specifically focus on receiving, pasteurization, transfers and storage, and cleaning in place (CIP) and will aims to collectively define the above areas, including deliverables and timelines, while considering the impact on different regions.
You can register for the workshop here.