This week saw the publication of the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee’s report entitled “Methane: keep up the momentum” which makes several recommendations based on comprehensive evidence gathered in a recent inquiry.

One part we found interesting was the section on the metrics used to measure, monitor and report on mitigation efforts. In particular the shortcomings of applying GWP100 to methane. The committee “heard that GWP100 is less well suited to representing the warming impact of shorter-lived greenhouse gases such as methane, and underestimates the cooling effects of reducing methane emissions.” This lead to the following recommendation: “As a first step, the Government should move towards unilaterally implementing an auxiliary metric to better reflect the warming impact of methane.”

The Committee also conceded that “The UK has fallen behind the US and EU in the development of enhanced methane monitoring and verification regulation at the level of individual emitting sectors and sites.” It goes on to say: “The Government should build on its work to improve the accuracy and reliability of agricultural emissions calculators for use on individual farms, in line with our recommendations regarding metrics.”

Funding and a commitment to using the most appropriate methods to measure farming emissions and mitigations is of huge importance to our industry. If regulators get this wrong, they risk damaging Britain’s meat and livestock industry and weakening our food security. The Committee’s Chair, Baroness Sheehan, spoke to Farming Today (from 4:47 minutes) about the report and discussed the misinformed furore surrounding Arla’s use of the feed additive Bovaer.

Read the report