PROVACUNO launches a new digital application aimed at calculating the carbon footprint of the beef and veal sector. This tool makes it possible to rigorously quantify emissions of greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O), along the entire value chain, both in the livestock and industrial phases.
The web application, called Huella Vacuno Sostenible, is now available for farmers at huellavacunosostenible.eu. From this platform, each farm can calculate its environmental impact by entering information on cultivation areas, purchase of concentrates and fodder, use of synthetic fertilizers, water and energy consumption. During the month of September, the module for the industry (slaughterhouses and cutting rooms) will be incorporated. For the development of the methodological approach of this digital tool, PROVACUNO has counted on the collaboration of the NEIKER Technological Center.
The launch of this application is part of the Promotion Plan “Sustainable European Beef” (SEUB), a three-year initiative co-financed with European funds whose objective is to promote the continuous improvement of the sustainability of the European beef sector. The plan provides the sector with access to tools based on scientific rigor, such as Codes of Good Practice and new innovative technical developments, including this application, which allows objective and measurable progress towards the European objective of climate neutrality in 2050. At the same time, the SEUB promotion plan contributes to making the public aware of the sector’s commitment to an increasingly sustainable, transparent production, based on science and aligned with current environmental and social challenges, under the slogan “For a sustainable Europe, the special mission of cattle”.
An easy-to-use, accessible and methodologically rigorous tool
The objective of this new application is to respond to the sector’s real need to have a simple-to-use, accessible and methodologically rigorous tool to measure its carbon footprint. The tool can be connected via API (Application Programming Interface) to the computer management systems (ERP) used in farms and meat industries, which allows automatic data capture and a fast, accurate and reliable calculation.
Among its main features, the application makes it easier for the sector to accurately know its starting situation in terms of emissions based on real data. With the clear and comparable reports offered by the tool, farmers and industrialists can objectively identify where their main sources of emissions are concentrated and how their carbon footprint evolves over time.
In the words of Javier López, director of PROVACUNO: “This application is a key step for the sector to continue working on the continuous improvement of sustainability, since only from a rigorous diagnosis is it possible to define effective actions, measure the impact in a realistic way and continue to advance in our commitment to the objective of climate neutrality in 2050”.
First phase: the application is now available for farmers
In this first phase of development, the application allows farmers to evaluate the main beef cattle production systems in a differentiated way: suckler systems (cow-calf) and feedlots, and thus convert usual productive data (feed consumption, growth, manure management, energy, etc.) into indicators for efficiency and improvement.
After entering the data, the farmer receives a detailed report of the total carbon footprint and disaggregated by sources (enteric fermentation, feeding, manure, energy, transport, etc.), expressed by product unit (live weight and carcass weight) and by surface area. The tool includes comparisons with sectoral references or with the farm’s own history, which allows you to contextualize the results and evaluate the relative performance of the farm by identifying actions aimed at reducing emissions.
An approach based on Life Cycle Analysis
The Sustainable Vaccination Footprint application has been designed under a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) approach, the international reference method for rigorously evaluating the environmental impacts of production systems. This approach allows emissions to be analyzed considering all the stages of the process, avoiding partial or biased views of the real impact.
In the case of beef cattle, the ACV incorporates factors such as the production of feed and forage, the use of fertilizers, energy consumption, manure management, transport and industrial transformation, which avoids the displacement of emissions between phases and guarantees a
coherent and scientifically proven diction.
Likewise, this application is methodologically aligned with the official reporting frameworks, by using the emission factors developed by the Ministry of Agriculture and collected in the Spanish Inventory System (SEI), which include aspects such as enteric fermentation, excreted nitrogen or energy consumption. This methodological consistency reinforces the reliability of the data used and offers the sector a solid and recognized basis for evaluating and improving its carbon footprint.
The web app incorporates indirect emissions and extends the analysis along the entire value chain. In this way, it provides a more complete view of the climate impact and is configured as an instrument oriented towards continuous improvement and comprehensive monitoring of the sector’s environmental performance.
Commitment to the sustainability of the sector
The final objective of this initiative is, in the words of Javier López, director of PROVACUNO, “to provide the Spanish beef sector with a free, voluntary, accessible and reliable tool, which allows farmers and industrialists to know with scientific rigor their carbon footprint and respond to the growing regulatory, market and reputational demands in terms of environmental sustainability”.
The campaign “For a sustainable Europe, the special mission of cattle” incorporates this application as a key piece to promote the continuous improvement of the sector, with access to verified information and aligned with official frameworks. An approach that allows European beef cattle to advance in a progressive and grounded manner in economic, social and environmental sustainability, as well as in the reduction of emissions and the preservation and improvement of the soil.
With this new application, PROVACUNO reinforces its commitment to transparency, innovation and scientific rigor, and accompanies the beef cattle sector in the adoption of increasingly sustainable practices and in its progress towards the objective of climate neutrality in 2050.
More information about the campaign on the websit www.vacunosostenible.eu.
