BPEX: Cutting the pig industry’s impact
The environmental impact and carbon footprint of English pig production are completely interwoven and the industry is seeking to begin to tackle both at the same time.
Two reports were launched yesterday looking at the carbon footprint of pig production together with the sustainability of the industry.
They pose many challenges but the industry is already seeking and introducing ways to tackle those challenges.
There is no magic bullet to solve all the problems in one fell swoop, the answer will be 1000s of small improvements which will end up having a much greater impact.
The first report is Scoping Life Cycle Assessment of Pork Production, estimating the environmental impacts of pork production and identifying opportunities for improvement.
The second is Pigs and the Environment, which looks at how BPEX can work to enhance the environmental sustainability of pork production.
Like all economic activity, pork production causes environmental impacts; these are primarily climate change, air pollution, water pollution and loss of biodiversity. These impacts tend to be lower for pork products than for beef and lamb, but higher than for poultry.
BPEX Head of Marketing Chris Lamb said: “The English pig industry has already taken major steps to improve efficiency and, as a consequence, cut CO2 and other environmental impacts. As the industry has a comparatively small number of producers, positive changes are relatively easier to introduce and this has been part of the reason for the excellent response.”
“The pig industry is determined to participate fully in the environmental debate and play its part in reducing GHG emissions. The launch of the two reports is only the start and we are looking forward to tackling the challenges of engaging on this subject and cutting the industry’s impact on the environment.”
Related website
• BPEX
Join 18,000+ subscribers
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated about all the need-to-know content in the pigsector, three times a week.
