Summary

This project focused on updating the livestock export industry's life cycle assessment, specifically examining carbon emissions and greenhouse gases.

With an increasing focus on carbon from the community, trading partners and government, the livestock export sector, this project enabled the industry to understand and effectively communicate its credentials in the carbon and greenhouse gases space, particularly to banks, other institutions and government. It also enabled the industry to plan for future activities and promote any improvements made in the last decade.

This project was conducted through the Livestock Export RD&E Program (LEP), a collaboration between LiveCorp and Meat & Livestock Australia.

Objectives

To update the livestock export industry life cycle assessment, with a particular focus on carbon and greenhouse gases, so that the industry can understand and communicate its credentials in this space, any improvements made within the last decade and plan for future activities.

Key Findings

• Compared to the 2010 baseline, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during cattle export (from quarantine yards to port arrival) decreased by 30%, primarily due to improved energy efficiency in shipping. In contrast, sheep emissions increased by 10%, primarily due to reduced ship stocking densities, which led to higher shipping emissions per head. This outcome highlights the delicate balance between animal welfare standards and environmental performance, illustrating the trade-offs between stocking density and transport efficiency.

• Live export (from quarantine yards to port arrival) contributes only 4% of total emissions for cattle and 25% for sheep in Australia.

• Although air freight represents a small portion of total live exports, it showed substantially higher emissions and energy use than sea freight, while water consumption remained similar.

Benefits to industry

This project serves as a key platform for the industry to communicate its environmental performance while also enabling the use of baseline data for self-assessment and performance benchmarking against other industries, ensuring ongoing progress and accountability.