The Dairy Roadmap

Founded in 2008, The Dairy Roadmap acts as a cross-industry approach to the setting of targets and driving progress on the environmental ambitions and commitments made by the UK dairy sector.

Led jointly by AHDB, Dairy UK and the NFU and with the support of Defra and other industry stakeholders, its aim is simple - to improve the environmental sustainability of the UK dairy sector whilst ensuring the continued prosperity of the industry, and the provision of safe, affordable, nutritious and sustainable produce for years to come.

To deliver this The Dairy Roadmap aims to establish a series of industry ambitions, goals and commitments spanning the full spectrum on environmental sustainability.

Dairy Roadmap aims

The aims of the Roadmap are:

1. To improve the environmental footprint of the entire dairy supply chain
2. To strive for environmental best practice, innovation and compliance
3. To maximise the social and economic benefits for the UK dairy sector from these improvements

Dairy farmer achievements

Dairy producers have matched the Dairy processors by achieving improvements across a wide range of targets. As of 2015:

• 24% decline in GHG emissions associated with milk production
• 43% of dairy farmers implement or use renewable energy
• 78% of farmers implement water efficiency measures
• 73% of dairy farms implemented nutrient management plans

Dairy processor achievements

Since 2008 Dairy processors have made vast progress against the targets for 2010, 2015 and even 2020. To date they have reported:

• 18% improvement in energy efficiency
• 23% relative reduction in water use on site
• 17% increase in raw effluent efficiency
• 56% reduction in Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)
• 95% of site waste is recovered or recycled
• 85% of HDPE milk containers are currently recycled

Future of the Roadmap: Raising the ambition

The Roadmap aims to support the goals of COP:

• Secure global Net Zero by mid-century and limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C
• Adapt to protect communities and natural habitats 
• Mobilise finance
• Work together to deliver