On-the-ball Nestlé withdraws from the Dairy Methane Action Alliance
- Susan Harris
- Oct 10
- 3 min read
Nestlé quietly abandons Dairy Methane Action Alliance
The Dairy Methane Action Alliance was set up by the Environmental Defense Fund in 2023. Members of the Alliance pledged to publicly measure and report dairy methane emissions from their supply chains and publish methane reduction plans. Most methane emissions in the dairy industry are from livestock.
Other members of the Alliance include General Mills and CloverSonoma. Four of the top 20 world dairy companies were members, now three. New Zealand-based dairy companies are not members.
Nestlé quietly abandoned the Alliance last month, with their logo disappearing from the EDS website (Bloomberg September 2025). Perhaps they read our blog article "Huge pieces of Antarctica are not falling off because of livestock emissions" (!). But more likely Nestlé is aware of the the International Energy Agency's recent report that shows fossil-fuel methane emissions are 110% of livestock emissions now and will go to 150% in future, making participation in the Dairy Methane Action Alliance futile. The company remains committed to its net zero emissions target.
Nestlé has also probably noted that after 16 years' research into reducing livestock methane emissions (by the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases), only a 10% reduction can be expected with current nascent technologies. This at a cost of around $NZD80-85 per unit (updated estimate Professor Moot, Lincoln University pers comm).
Carbon credits in New Zealand are currently $NZD56 ($USD32) per unit. Only 3% of carbon prices worldwide are above the World Bank's recommended 2030 level of $USD50 -100 per unit needed to drive emission reductions. Public pressure, not financial, is the main driver persuading companies and nations to reduce emissions and provide "climate-friendly" goods and services. An important secondary driver is the rapid expansion of cleaner, cheaper, safer, and quick-to-install solar energy technologies.
Taking natural livestock emissions out of the Paris Climate Agreement
Perhaps Nestlé and other major global dairy companies might join a campaign to have animal emissions taken out of the Paris Climate Agreement. These companies have very significant global lobbying power. New Zealand could coordinate the campaign, leading the 68 nations in the Global Research Alliance, and assisted by food industry groups, to lobby the IPCC to remove animal emissions from the Paris Climate Agreement. Only eight words need to be added to the Agreement:
"This Agreement shall not apply to animal emissions."
However, it would take considerable work to coordinate the 68 nations and participating industry groups to prepare the necessary policy paper, promote it, and get the proposal approved at next year's COP31 conference (in Australia or Turkey).
For the good of New Zealand and the global food industry, the responsible authorities need to get on with it now.
Author:
Susan Harris BSc(Hons), MEIANZ, MNZPI
Chief Executive Officer, GreenXperts Limited
phone: +64 22 1544 958 | email: susan.harris@greenxperts.co.nz
Susan is a recognised world authority on sustainability, a former Environment Commissioner, with 30 years' experience as a science team leader. Susan operates the Global GreenXperts Network, with projects focusing on sustainability, certification, the NZETS, carbon, and climate change management advice in Australasia, the UK, EU, India, and most recently in Africa developing and authenticating sources of high integrity voluntary carbon credits.
Comments