Athian and Elanco Animal Health Team Up to Transform Food Production through Methane Reduction
- Establishment of a livestock carbon insetting marketplace by Athian with the first carbon credits verified for sale.
- Collaboration with Elanco Animal Health to reduce enteric methane emissions and improve feed utilization.
- Opportunity for dairy farmers to monetize greenhouse gas emission reductions through the marketplace.
- Companies in the dairy value chain can purchase carbon credits to support emissions reduction goals.
- Return of economic value to farmers while advancing the U.S. dairy industry towards greenhouse gas neutrality by 2050.
- Elanco's UpLook tool aids in measuring and monitoring greenhouse gas emissions for farmers.
- Addressing the challenge of reducing Scope 3 emissions in the animal protein value chain.
- Significant opportunity for food companies and retailers to achieve sustainability goals through the marketplace.
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Insights
The establishment of a voluntary livestock carbon insetting marketplace by Athian represents a significant innovation within the agricultural sector. It directly targets the reduction of enteric methane emissions, a potent greenhouse gas, through the adoption of improved feed management practices. The initiative has the potential to alter the landscape of carbon credit markets by focusing on insetting rather than offsetting, which traditionally involves external projects to compensate for emissions.
From a market research perspective, this development is indicative of a broader trend towards sustainability in the agricultural industry. Consumer demand for environmentally responsible products is rising and companies throughout the food value chain are under increasing pressure to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability. The ability of farmers to monetize their emission reductions through this marketplace could incentivize the adoption of green practices, potentially leading to a shift in industry standards towards more sustainable farming methods.
Furthermore, the economic incentive provided to farmers could stimulate investment in new technologies and practices that reduce emissions, driving innovation within the sector. This marketplace also presents an opportunity for companies in the dairy value chain to meet their Scope 3 emissions reduction goals, which is a challenge for many organizations. By purchasing carbon credits, these companies can align their business strategies with consumer expectations and regulatory pressures, potentially gaining a competitive advantage.
The introduction of Athian's livestock carbon insetting marketplace is a noteworthy event from an environmental economics standpoint. This marketplace internalizes the environmental costs of greenhouse gas emissions within the dairy value chain, providing a financial mechanism for reducing emissions at the source. This is a departure from the traditional carbon offset market, which often involves purchasing credits from unrelated projects, such as reforestation.
By creating a direct link between emission reductions and economic returns for farmers, the marketplace aligns economic incentives with environmental outcomes. This could lead to a more efficient allocation of resources within the agricultural sector, as farmers who can reduce emissions most cost-effectively will be rewarded. Over time, this could result in a net decrease in the carbon footprint of the dairy industry and contribute to the U.S. dairy industry's goal of achieving greenhouse gas neutrality by 2050.
However, the long-term success of this marketplace will depend on the transparency and robustness of the verification process, as well as the scalability of the interventions. If successful, this model could be replicated in other sectors, leading to a more integrated approach to addressing climate change within various industries.
Athian's creation of a livestock carbon insetting marketplace is a pioneering step in the agricultural industry's journey towards sustainability. This marketplace enables dairy farmers to implement sustainability interventions and have their emission reductions verified and monetized. The use of Elanco's UpLook™ technology is a critical component, as it provides a data-driven approach to measure and monitor greenhouse gas emissions, allowing for accurate quantification and certification of carbon credits.
The role of such technologies in ensuring the integrity and credibility of carbon credits cannot be overstated. As a sustainability consultant, the focus would be on assessing the effectiveness of these interventions in achieving real emissions reductions and ensuring that the credits generated represent genuine progress towards environmental sustainability.
Moreover, the marketplace's expansion to other livestock and poultry sectors could have profound implications for the broader animal protein industry. The potential for scaling up these sustainability efforts is considerable and the model could serve as a blueprint for other sectors seeking to integrate environmental sustainability with economic viability. The success of this initiative could encourage further investments in sustainable farming practices, leading to widespread adoption and significant environmental benefits.
CEOs speaking at Reuters Transform Food Today Announce the First-of-its-Kind Livestock Carbon Inset Market has First Carbon Credits Verified for Sale
GREENFIELD, IN / ACCESSWIRE / February 9, 2024 / Athian (athian.ai) announced the establishment of the first-of-its-kind voluntary livestock carbon insetting marketplace, with the first accepted protocol aimed at reducing enteric methane emissions and improving feed utilization by using innovative feed management products from Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN). This new carbon marketplace creates an opportunity for farmers to monetize their greenhouse gas emission reductions.
Athian is verifying its first farms and creating, certifying and selling carbon credits within the dairy value chain. This means:
- Dairy farmers of all sizes now have the opportunity to implement on-farm sustainability interventions, measure the impact and participate in third-party verification for their greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The resulting carbon credits can be offered for sale in Athian's livestock carbon insetting marketplace.
- Companies in the dairy value chain (such as consumer-packaged goods companies and food retailers) can then purchase those carbon credits as contributions towards achieving their Scope 3 emissions reduction goals.
- With the purchase of these credits, economic value is returned to the farmer via the sale while supporting the U.S. dairy industry progress towards their own environmental commitments of greenhouse gas neutrality by 2050.1
- Over the long term, this marketplace will expand to other livestock & poultry.
"Athian's first carbon credits for dairy are an exciting and crucial step as they demonstrate the ability to tangibly quantify and verify greenhouse gas emissions reductions and create monetary value for farmers for their efforts," said Paul Myer, CEO of Athian. "This marketplace, specifically designed for the animal protein industry, is different than traditional offsetting carbon marketplaces because it keeps the value-economic value as well as positive environmental value-in the animal protein value chain."
Empowering Farmers with Economic Opportunities
Despite widespread awareness of carbon markets by farmers, only
"As a co-creator and seed investor in Athian, we're excited to see the company reach the milestones that will bring new value to farmers and help them advance toward climate-neutral farming," said Jeff Simmons, President and CEO of Elanco Animal Health. "As a leader in animal health, we've focused first on delivering enteric methane reduction solutions to producers. If the entire U.S. dairy industry leveraged this intervention, it would avoid 4.7 million metric tons of CO2e emissions annually from enteric, feed and manure emissions. This is a game changer for value creation throughout the food chain, and it's just the start. Environmental sustainability needs to be grounded in farmer profitability."
Elanco also developed UpLook™, an insights-based engine designed to measure and monitor greenhouse gas emissions. The tool utilizes on-farm data and peer-reviewed science to identify key drivers of an operation's carbon footprint and track the progress of their sustainability efforts. UpLook connects seamlessly to Athian's cloud-based verification system to help farmers quantify their reduction efforts and certify carbon credits for sale.
Enabling The Value Chain to Achieve Sustainability Goals
Food companies and retailers have made public commitments to collectively reduce more than 100 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Despite the progress in corporate target-setting, the reduction of Scope 3 emissions, which typically come from the production of raw materials like milk, has been a significant challenge. The creation of Athian's insetting livestock carbon credit marketplace provides companies in the animal protein value chain the opportunity to make meaningful progress toward their Scope 3 greenhouse gas reduction goals.
Athian and Elanco are participating in the Reuters Transform Food USA 2023 event on Thursday, November 2, 2023, to speak more about this transformation.
Enteric methane reduction carbon credits are now available for purchase through Athian's insetting carbon marketplace. Visit www.athian.ai to learn more and connect directly with Athian.
Additional Resources:
https://www.athian.ai/knowledge-hub
ABOUT ELANCO
Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) is a global leader in animal health dedicated to innovating and delivering products and services to prevent and treat disease in farm animals and pets, creating value for farmers, pet owners, veterinarians, stakeholders, and society as a whole. With nearly 70 years of animal health heritage, we are committed to helping our customers improve the health of animals in their care, while also making a meaningful impact on our local and global communities. At Elanco, we are driven by our vision of Food and Companionship Enriching Life and our Elanco Healthy Purpose™ Sustainability Pledges -all to advance the health of animals, people, and the planet.
ABOUT ATHIAN
Athian's key mission is to help the beef and dairy value chains capture and claim carbon credits generated through on-farm sustainability efforts by aggregating, verifying, and certifying greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions, and monetizing those reductions for the producer through the sale of carbon insetting credits.
1. https://www.usdairy.com/sustainability/environmental-sustainability
2. USDA Releases Assessment on Agriculture and Forestry in Carbon Markets | USDA
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View the original press release on accesswire.com
FAQ
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