Climate and Biodiversity Credentials for Australian Grass-Fed Beef: A Review of Standards, Certification and Assurance Schemes

Abstract

Extensive livestock production occupies 25% of the ice-free terrestrial surface of the Earth, and Australian beef production contributes about 10% of this total land footprint. Therefore, the management of cattle has major implications for natural vegetation, soils, biodiversity, and atmospheric greenhouse gases in Australia and globally. To meet global sustainability targets and consumer expectations, a variety of environmental Standards, Certification and Assurance (SCA) schemes are being developed and implemented to enable producers to verify claims relating to their products. Improved standardization and coordination are now needed to address the rapid proliferation of credentialing systems that use different frameworks, methods and levels of scientific verification. Using the Australian grass-fed beef industry as a case study, we identified the measures, metrics and methods that are currently used by SCA schemes for climate and biodiversity credentialing. From here, a co-design process with industry representatives was applied to develop recommendations for credentialing in extensive beef production, feedlots and meat processing. It was clear that the successful adoption of credentialing by beef producers will require flexible and user-friendly support tools that use scalable data sources such as existing producer records, agtech databases and remote sensing information. Substantive rewards and incentives will be required to support producer engagement with the SCA schemes. Overall, ’more needs to be done to ensure the transparency of schemes and to meet benchmarks for integrity such as determining uncertainty and support though peer-reviewed science.

Drivers of Sustainability Credentialling in the Red Meat Value Chain—A Mixed Methods Study

“…While biodiversity impacts are an important emerging topic for sustainability credentialling in the red meat sector [16], the current focus centers upon GHG emissions reduction [28,32]. However, as mentioned above, red meat industry emissions are unlike most other industries in that the main GHG emission is biogenic methane.…”

“…Many red meat processors and corporate food retailers exceed these thresholds. Other actors include investment companies, financial service providers, and other service providers, as well as organizations that shape the policy and informational environment [16]. These external demands for sustainability credentialling add compliance costs and may not add value to consumers of red meat products.…”

A conceptual framework for modelling the role of livestock systems in sustainable diets and a sustainable planet

“…While the incorporation of ecosystem services into sustainability assessment frameworks is an emerging area, there are existing methods for modelling soil organic carbon and biodiversity that could be incorporated into this framework, as reviewed by Thomas et al (2023). Fewer frameworks are currently available to address the issue of avoided emissions, largely due to a lack of methods to quantify the emissions reductions from novel management practices.…”

“…Just as producers should be credited for improvement, it is equally important to give credit to those who are already doing the right thing, even if doing the right thing environmentally may be less economically feasible (Herrero et al 2016;Harrison et al 2021;Thomas et al 2023). This is both an opportunity and a serious need that must be addressed for holistic assessment of the impact of food waste/crop byproducts as food from a holistic perspective.…”

“…Government can play a key role as program operators and creators of policy/science frameworks in this space, ensuring that the standards are based on reliable, robust science, while working with industry and other stakeholders to develop benchmarks and ensure feasibility of measuring, reporting, and achieving the desired outcomes (FIAL 2021;Thomas et al 2023). Such programs will help drive commitment to action from industry stakeholders, as consumer/market pressure to prove sustainability of their production systems will help promote adoption.…”