The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) and an industry-led steering group developed a plan to improve environmental sustainability while maintaining productive, resilient and commercially viable businesses across England and Wales.
The Beef and Lamb Sector Environmental Roadmap aims to give farmers, advisers, processors, retailers, policymakers and wider industry partners a shared evidence base for action.
The Roadmap will first focus on practical “no regrets” measures that are technically robust, economically realistic and suitable for a wide range of beef and sheep systems.
These include improving animal health and productivity, optimising lifetime growth, strengthening genetics and breeding, improving forage quality and nutrition, building soil health, expanding grass-legume and multispecies swards, and improving nitrogen efficiency.
The analysis separates beef into suckler beef and dairy-beef systems, alongside sheep, looking to create three clearer pathways for action. Under realistic adoption of the modelled cost-saving or cost-neutral measures, annual greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced by 1.9 Mt CO2e by 2050, said AHDB, equivalent to 7.9% across the three sectors combined by 2050.
This is the first phase of delivery for the roadmap, not the sector’s full mitigation potential. The modelling focuses on a defined set of practical measures and excludes additional-cost technologies, opportunities for carbon removals and many emerging technologies. It also uses broadly stable production assumptions to allow the relative impact of different mitigation measures to be compared consistently. AHDB said that further progress will depend on wider uptake of existing measures, continued innovation, supply-chain decarbonisation, better evidence on sequestration and ongoing investment across the sector.
AHDB reported a need for better farm-level data, transparent reporting and stronger alignment across incentive schemes, advice and supply-chain requirements. Progress will rely on collaboration between producers, processors, levy bodies, advisers, researchers, Government and wider supply-chain partners.
The roadmap includes a 2026 to 2030 action plan, which sets out the next phase of work. In 2026, the sector will look to establish baselines for genetics, finishing age, health planning, soil condition, grass-legume adoption, nitrogen use and forage digestibility, before accelerating adoption and measuring impact through to 2030.
“This is about providing guidance on what is achievable but then allowing farmers to choose the route that is right for them and their business.”
Chris Gooderham, AHDB
Andrew Loftus, beef farmer and chair of the Beef and Lamb Environmental Roadmap Technical Steering Group, said: “This roadmap is about practical steps farmers can take now without fear of regret. It recognises that beef and lamb must defend their reputation to retain their place in our diets. For most farms the steps that reduce emissions are the same steps that support productivity, resilience and long-term profitability.
“The Roadmap does not shy away from contentious issues, like the warming effect of methane, but focuses on actions that can make a difference now without fear of adverse consequences. This shared evidence base must be turned into coordinated delivery across the whole sector, as well as guiding future research and regulation to achieve better outcomes.”
Chris Gooderham, AHDB director of environment, said: “The Beef and Lamb Environmental Roadmap shows the progress already made by the sector and maps a route for further environmental improvements that are also economically beneficial. This is about providing guidance on what is achievable but then allowing farmers to choose the route that is right for them and their business. By focusing on practical improvements that support both environmental progress and business resilience, beef and lamb businesses can demonstrate leadership, maintain confidence and help shape their own future.”
BMPA supports Roadmap publication
Lucas Daglish, sustainability manager at the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA), said: “For processors, one of the biggest benefits of this roadmap is that it gives the whole supply chain something to work from together. Farmers, processors, retailers and foodservice businesses all want to show they’re making progress, but that becomes much harder when everyone is measuring different things or asking for information in different formats.
“A shared framework can reduce unnecessary duplication, improve confidence in the data we’re using and help everyone understand progress in the same way. That means less time spent meeting different reporting requirements and more time focused on making real improvements.
“This isn’t a finished product, and it isn’t meant to be. It’s a framework that will continue to develop, and it’s important that processors stay involved so it remains practical, evidence-based and works for the whole supply chain.”
AIMS welcomes announcement
Commenting on the launch of the Roadmap, Tony Goodger, head of communications at the Association for Independent Meat Processors (AIMS), commented: “The Beef and Lamb Roadmap provides a clear illustration of the enormous amount of work livestock farmers are doing in relation to reducing environmental impacts. As the UK’s largest trade body in the abattoir sector we at AIMS are continuously working with our members to drive supply chain decarbonisation.
“The roadmap provides our processor members with scientifically robust data for inclusion in the Scope 3 emissions reporting thereby helping them align with the supply chain reporting used by retails as well as supporting British Beef and British Lamb within trade negotiations with global markets.”
