L.SFP.1013 - Publicly available specification for verifying climate and biodiversity credentials for Australian grassfed beef

Summary

The purpose of this research was to provide underpinning science support to enable verification of the environmental credentials of Australian grassfed beef. We wanted to know what are the key metrics and methods that would support climate and biodiversity credentials for beef producers and processers at different scales (e.g., cohort, enterprise through to multiple business levels). We wanted to identify the most effective ways to obtain the data that is required in credentialling. The work will 
be used to provide scientific support for the development of a digital platform (ECIT) for entry level credentialling. 

Objectives

• Construct a sustainability performance measure that enables validation of climate and biodiversity credentials in the context of the ECIT platform. 
• Define the key metrics and methods for a climate standard to enable verification of climate credentials of Australian grassfed beef as they are applied to the production system under examination (farm, feedlot, processor) at different scales (farm, commodity, and animal cohort).
• Prescribe the trusted data sources to provide evidence of meeting the climate and biodiversity standards and which will flow into the ECIT platform. 

Key findings

• An extensive review of SCA schemes revealed that while they are proliferating rapidly, the underpinning metrics and data being used to verify credentials is somewhat limited, due to both the high level of systems complexity and diversity, and likely protection of IP by credentialling businesses.
• The project review identified a wide range of methods and metrics that were being used in SCA schemes, in the areas of GHG emissions, sequestration and biodiversity. For climate credentials, GHG accounting methods are required including metrics such as emissions intensity, net/total emissions, and carbon stores in the soil and vegetation. For biodiversity credentials, the use of habitat condition assessment is a generally accepted proxy for 
  biodiversity.
• We suggest the use of emissions accounting (SB-GAF) and process models (FullCAM – e.g., via FLINTpro) for climate credentials, and a business practice questionnaire and remote sensing (e.g., LOOC-B) approach for biodiversity credentials. These approaches all offer a strong potential for scientific verification, although further work may be needed to achieve this.
• We recommend using a tiered approach to provide flexibility for entry level credentialling across the Australian beef industry. The 3-tiered approach and achievement criteria were developed with consistency for climate and biodiversity, i.e., Tier 1 – Aware (Learn and Plan), Tier 2- Actioned (Measure and Manage) and Tier 3-Committed (Monitor and Improve). 

Benefits to industry

• This project has developed a scientifically grounded foundation for entry-level credentialling for producers and processors.
• Combined with governance and oversight from an industry representative body such as Meat and Livestock Australia, this should enable consistency and confidence for businesses or entities seeking to credential their products.
• The project supports the ECIT platform build by establishing a scientifically rigorous set of recommendations that can be applied and adapted to meet the practical requirements for credentialling in the beef industry.

MLA action

The researcher suggests the use of emissions accounting (SB-GAF) and process models (FullCAM – e.g., via FLINTpro) for climate credentials, and a business practice questionnaire and remote sensing (e.g. LOOC-B) approach for biodiversity credentials. 

Future research

• Verification of climate and biodiversity credential outputs of the ECIT platform, and validation of the methods being applied.
• Evaluation of the suitability of metric and methods applied, and the tiered approach, and ensure that perverse incentives are not generated. Assess the potential value of new metrics and methods as they become available, and how credentialling approaches are evolving internationally.
• Improvements in the curation of data used in credentialling, and the possibility of automating data capture and/or avoiding duplication for data entry.