Researchers: Dr. Ermias Kebreab, Dr. Frank Mitloehner, and Dr. Daniel Sumner, UC Davis
KEY TAKE-A-WAYS
• California Senate Bill 1383 requires a 40% reduction in methane emissions from the livestock sector below 2013 levels by 2030. Analysis shows continued implementation of California’s incentive-based dairy methane reduction efforts should achieve the full 40% reduction goal set by the state by 2030.
• The resulting report outlines the need for continued implementation of California’s four-part strategy for dairy methane reduction: farm efficiency and herd attrition, methane avoidance (alternative manure management), methane capture and utilization (anaerobic digesters), and enteric methane reduction.
• Continued alignment of state and federal climate-smart agricultural approaches and incentives will be critical to maintaining progress.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
California has set aggressive targets for reducing methane 40% below 2013 levels by 2030, including from the dairy and other livestock sectors (see SB 1383). This research focused on California’s worldleading efforts to reduce dairy sector methane in the five-plus years since the enactment of SB 1383, with the objective to document technologies and management practices that have been successful.
METHODS, FINDINGS AND OUTCOMES
Analysis by UC Davis researchers shows continued implementation of California’s incentive-based dairy methane reduction efforts should, by 2030, achieve the full 40% reduction goal. The report, “Meeting the Call: How California is Pioneering a Pathway to Significant Dairy Sector Methane Reduction,” written by distinguished professors of livestock emissions and agricultural economics, takes a comprehensive look at progress and projections, expanding upon the analysis previously conducted by the California Air Resources Board. By documenting achievements-to-date, additional reduction efforts already funded, historic and current economic trends, and the projected availability of new solutions, the analysis lays out a workable path toward meeting California’s targets in methane reduction. The analysis recognizes that enteric methane from the dairy and other livestock sectors is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. and California. Several feed additives are expected to become commercially available in the next several years, which could be used to reduce enteric methane emissions from California’s dairy herd. The report finds that methane reductions from California’s programs and projects in place today, coupled with the implementation of a moderate feed additive strategy to reduce enteric emissions, is on track to reduce between 7.61 to 10.59 million metric tons of methane (CO2e) by 2030, all from the dairy sector alone.
Click to download “Meeting the Call: How California is Pioneering a Pathway to Significant Dairy Sector Methane Reduction,” or visit clear.ucdavis.edu, or dairycares.com