Analysis milk
Validating emission quota per company is a big job
In the multitude of voices that could be heard last week after the verdict of the Hague court on the Greenpeace case, it was also suggested to give dairy farms some kind of individual emission target. However, something like that is easier said than done. There is currently no instrument available to reliably measure and verify emissions.
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There are currently no good and especially validated instruments for reliable measurement of emissions. Emission calculations are possible, but especially the calculations concerning emissions to the air often have a credibility problem due to the large uncertainty and also reliability margins. As a result, they fall into the same category as low-emission barn grids and even new emission-reducing devices in terms of tenability in court.
The dairy industry likes to point to the Cycle Indicator (KLW) in response to questions about emissions. The KLW registers and delivers the requested data. However, this instrument is especially good when it comes to emissions to soil and water, as a Validation Study by Wageningen researchers from the end of 2023 shows.
The problem is known to ZuivelNL and WUR, among others, and it is, as they say, the best state of the art, but the question is whether it is enough to hold individual livestock farms accountable, as Minister Femke Wiersma (LVVN) suggests.