Costs of transitioning the livestock sector to net-zero emissions under future climates
Abstract Land managers are challenged with the need to balance priorities in production, greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement, biodiversity and social license to operate. Here, we develop a transdisciplinary approach for prioritising land use, illustrated by co-designing pathways for transitioning farming...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59203-5 |
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| author | Franco Bilotto Karen Michelle Christie-Whitehead Bill Malcolm Nicoli Barnes Brendan Cullen Margaret Ayre Matthew Tom Harrison |
| author_facet | Franco Bilotto Karen Michelle Christie-Whitehead Bill Malcolm Nicoli Barnes Brendan Cullen Margaret Ayre Matthew Tom Harrison |
| author_sort | Franco Bilotto |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Land managers are challenged with the need to balance priorities in production, greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement, biodiversity and social license to operate. Here, we develop a transdisciplinary approach for prioritising land use, illustrated by co-designing pathways for transitioning farming systems to net-zero emissions. We show that few interventions enhanced productivity and profitability while reducing GHG emissions. Antimethanogenic feed supplements and planting trees afforded the greatest mitigation, while revenue diversification with wind turbines and adoption of livestock genotypes with enhanced feed-conversion efficiency (FCE) were most conducive to improving profit. Serendipitously, the intervention with the lowest social licence—continuing the status quo and purchasing carbon credits to offset emissions—was also the most costly pathway to transition to net-zero. In contrast, stacking several interventions to mitigate enteric methane, improve FCE and sequester carbon entirely negated enterprise emissions in a profitable way. We conclude that costs of transitioning to net-zero are lower when interventions are bundled and/or evoke productivity co-benefits. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a731e823c5414cd4852268152ecba1ab |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-a731e823c5414cd4852268152ecba1ab2025-08-20T03:15:13ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-04-0116111910.1038/s41467-025-59203-5Costs of transitioning the livestock sector to net-zero emissions under future climatesFranco Bilotto0Karen Michelle Christie-Whitehead1Bill Malcolm2Nicoli Barnes3Brendan Cullen4Margaret Ayre5Matthew Tom Harrison6Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, University of Tasmania, NewnhamTasmanian Institute of Agriculture, University of TasmaniaSchool of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, The University of MelbourneTasmanian Institute of Agriculture, University of TasmaniaSchool of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, The University of MelbourneSchool of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, The University of MelbourneTasmanian Institute of Agriculture, University of Tasmania, NewnhamAbstract Land managers are challenged with the need to balance priorities in production, greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement, biodiversity and social license to operate. Here, we develop a transdisciplinary approach for prioritising land use, illustrated by co-designing pathways for transitioning farming systems to net-zero emissions. We show that few interventions enhanced productivity and profitability while reducing GHG emissions. Antimethanogenic feed supplements and planting trees afforded the greatest mitigation, while revenue diversification with wind turbines and adoption of livestock genotypes with enhanced feed-conversion efficiency (FCE) were most conducive to improving profit. Serendipitously, the intervention with the lowest social licence—continuing the status quo and purchasing carbon credits to offset emissions—was also the most costly pathway to transition to net-zero. In contrast, stacking several interventions to mitigate enteric methane, improve FCE and sequester carbon entirely negated enterprise emissions in a profitable way. We conclude that costs of transitioning to net-zero are lower when interventions are bundled and/or evoke productivity co-benefits.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59203-5 |
| spellingShingle | Franco Bilotto Karen Michelle Christie-Whitehead Bill Malcolm Nicoli Barnes Brendan Cullen Margaret Ayre Matthew Tom Harrison Costs of transitioning the livestock sector to net-zero emissions under future climates Nature Communications |
| title | Costs of transitioning the livestock sector to net-zero emissions under future climates |
| title_full | Costs of transitioning the livestock sector to net-zero emissions under future climates |
| title_fullStr | Costs of transitioning the livestock sector to net-zero emissions under future climates |
| title_full_unstemmed | Costs of transitioning the livestock sector to net-zero emissions under future climates |
| title_short | Costs of transitioning the livestock sector to net-zero emissions under future climates |
| title_sort | costs of transitioning the livestock sector to net zero emissions under future climates |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59203-5 |
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