Growing Alliance of Global Food & Dairy Companies Builds Momentum to Reduce Methane Emissions

Showcasing private sector momentum to drive down emissions of planet-warming methane, a global alliance of the world’s leading food and dairy companies — created to tackle methane emissions from dairy — announced that it has reached several important milestone moments.

The progress so far includes: 

• New commitments: Three more companies — Agropur, Idaho Milk Products and Savencia Fromage & Dairy — joined the Dairy Methane Action Alliance (DMAA), committing to transparency and action planning to drive down dairy methane emissions. 
• Demonstrated results: Danone, a founding Alliance member, announced notable progress toward its target to reduce methane emissions in its fresh milk supply chain by 30% by 2030. 
• New action plans: Danone and Lactalis USA have become among the first companies in the world to publish dairy methane action plans, outlining innovative programs and initiatives that chart a pathway toward substantial emissions reductions. 
• Growing emissions transparency: Alliance members Bel Group, Clover Sonoma, Danone, General Mills, Lactalis USA and Starbucks are now leading the industry with some of the sector’s first public dairy methane emissions disclosures. These disclosures are the critical first step toward building a robust plan to drive down those emissions over time.  
• New essential guidance to enable sector-wide action: The Dairy Methane Action Alliance publicly released its Dairy Methane Action Plan and Dairy Methane Stakeholder Engagement guides — a rare example of commodity-specific guidelines — to empower all food and dairy companies, not just those in the Alliance, to create robust action plans and successfully engage stakeholders to reduce dairy methane emissions. 

The Dairy Methane Action Alliance was launched by EDF in December 2023 to accelerate action in reducing global emissions of methane in the food and dairy sectors. Members commit to publicly measure and disclose methane emissions from their dairy supply chains and publish action plans to reduce those emissions over time. Alliance members include Agropur, Bel Group, Clover Sonoma, Danone, General Mills, Idaho Milk Products, Kraft Heinz, Lactalis USA, Nestle, Savencia Fromage & Dairy and Starbucks. 

“At Savencia, joining the Dairy Methane Action Alliance is a natural step in line with our ambition to reduce GHG emissions and in response to our current SBTi commitments and those to come in 2025 (1,5° + net zero in 2050). Preserving the environment (GHG emissions, water and biodiversity preservation) is a major pillar of our CSR commitments and serves our vocation ‘Leading the way to better food.’ Tackling methane emissions is both a climate imperative and consequently a business responsibility. Through this Alliance, we are proud to strengthen our commitment to transparency, collaboration, and innovation to drive meaningful change across the dairy sector that benefits both the planet and our communities,” said Olivier Delaméa, chief executive officer, Savencia Fromage & Dairy. 

"This is a multi-year journey with much more work ahead. However, we are pleased to share that in 2024, we reduced methane emissions from our fresh milk supply chain by 25% against a 2020 baseline, marking great progress toward our target to reduce these emissions by 30% by 2030. This has been possible due to the strong partnership with our teams and the efforts by farming partners to not only achieve methane reductions but also improve resilience,” said Chris Adamo, head of global sustainability impact & B Corp, Danone. 

“Lactalis USA is committed to taking action on climate change. The process of developing our Dairy Methane Action Plan was a valuable opportunity to take our plans to reduce emissions from milk to a more robust level. We were able to gain new visibility into total methane emissions by source, allowing us to create a more targeted reduction plan that will guide us into the future,” said Britt Lundgren, senior director of sustainability and government affairs, Lactalis USA. 
 
“By building momentum through collaboration and sharing best practices, the Alliance can help reduce planet-warming methane from dairy supply chains, slow the rate of warming, and build a more resilient future for the industry,” said Katie Anderson, senior director, business, food & forests at EDF. “Action on dairy methane is good for farmers, good for business and good for the climate. Today’s progress needs to become tomorrow’s standard practice and collective action — and EDF is ready to help companies take their next steps.” 
 
A potent greenhouse gas with nearly 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide in the first twenty years after it enters the atmosphere, methane represents a crucial opportunity to immediately slow the rate of near-term global warming. Agriculture is responsible for nearly 40% of human-caused methane emissions, with most of that coming from livestock. That makes tackling methane the dairy industry’s best opportunity for climate impact.  

"Our unwavering commitment to sustainability and transparency is exemplified through our partnership with the Dairy Methane Action Alliance, marking a significant milestone and highlighting our role in supporting better food for a better future,” said Jeremy Pike, director of sustainability, Idaho Milk Products. 

Action plans provide new insight into emerging corporate strategies 

The action plans released today provide the dairy sector and other stakeholders with new insights into the strategies that companies in the Dairy Methane Action Alliance are pursuing. These initiatives range from supporting farmer efforts to reduce on-farm emissions and partnering with leading research institutions to fuel innovation to advancing public policies that support farmers driving action on the ground. 

For example: 

• From Danone, a strategic partnership with Zoetis to pioneer sustainable innovation in dairy farming using the power of genetics: “Zoetis & Danone formed a joint business development plan centered around integrating sustainable cow genetics for long-term resilience in dairy farming. By conducting genomic testing, Zoetis delivers data-driven genetic insights to farmers, enhancing milk production with the right herd inventory and building resilience for both farms and animals.” 
• From Lactalis USA, a new program supporting farmers to improve herd management to reduce on-farm emissions: "Lactalis USA subsidiary, Lactalis U.S. Yogurt, launched a herd optimization program that works with its direct supply farms to right-size their replacement herd. This program helps direct supply farms identify strategies to increase efficiency of their total herd and reduce the number of young stock (where not needed) as well as the embedded emissions they represent. Based on the reduction of young stock, Cool Farm Tool is used to model the GHG reduction impact, and as of Q1 2025, farms are paid $40/mt CO2e reduction they achieve to incentivize participation. This program was launched in 2025, and the business plans to expand the program to other direct supply farms in 2026.” 

Technical guides bring open-source access to best practices for the global dairy sector 

EDF, in partnership with Ceres and with support from Pure Strategies, published essential new guides that provide industry stakeholders with unprecedented technical resources on dairy methane action planning and stakeholder engagement, publishing these open access guides with the goal of scaling transparency and action on dairy methane across global supply chains. 

“We are encouraged to see a growing focus on commodity-specific transition planning, a practice that we believe should be scaled across agriculture and food value chains, and look forward to future opportunities for similar leadership and collaboration with EDF, partners and our member companies," said Stefania Avanzini, director, agriculture and food, World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).  "WBCSD's Agriculture and Food Pathway brings together leading companies to raise ambition, accelerate action, and strengthen accountability on climate, nature and equity. EDF’s guidance aligns strongly with this mission, and we appreciate the Dairy Methane Action Plan guide as a first-of-its-kind resource that provides companies with practical tools to operationalize their dairy methane emissions reduction goals."

These new publications complete a series of four technical guides designed to enable and accelerate private sector action on dairy methane. In November 2024, the Alliance launched its first two guides for the dairy industry: Dairy Methane Accounting and Dairy Methane Disclosure. These resources provide a step-by-step framework for companies to account for and disclose dairy methane emissions, advancing transparency in food supply chains as a first step towards mitigation.  

A recent report by the nonprofit Ceres — which works with investors, companies, and policymakers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the food sector and seize opportunities of a more resilient agricultural system — highlights the financial case for corporate action on methane pollution, including examples of how more than a dozen companies are reaping business benefits, from increasing operational efficiency to expanding market reach. Ceres’ latest Food Emissions 50 Company Benchmark also shows industry-leading companies are starting to set methane reduction goals and take action. 

“It’s promising to see momentum in the food sector around prioritizing methane, as addressing the potent gas can help companies and their investors better manage risk and ensure future profitability and supply chain resilience,” said Carolyn Ching, director of research, food and forests at Ceres. “To achieve their goals, it’s important for food companies to outline the steps they intend to take, including those specifically for methane, in transition plans. The new action plan guidance from Ceres, EDF, and Pure Strategies provides companies a framework to develop those strategies for reducing dairy methane, a primary source of the sector’s supply chain emissions.”    
 
"With growing droughts, torrential rainfalls, heat waves and other extreme weather already threatening dairy supply chains, the urgency for dairy sector action to reduce planet-warming emissions has never been greater,” added EDF’s Vrashabh Kapate, senior manager, global dairy sector. “We encourage industry stakeholders to explore EDF's dairy methane resources and connect with experts today to learn more about how food companies can integrate dairy methane action planning into their business."