Australian livestock emissions: Sheep Sustainability Framework releases first report

The report card on the Australian sheep industry is in and a key finding shows whether wool or meat produces more greenhouse gases.

Wool produces almost four times more carbon dioxide equivalents than sheep meat for every kilogram of product according to a report card on the sustainability of the sheep industry released today at Bendigo.

The first annual report from the Sheep Sustainability Framework will be released today at the Australian Sheep and Wool Show and tracks the performance of the nation’s industry.

One of the key areas included in the annual report is a life cycle assessment of the sheep industry, which documents the amount of greenhouse gases produced.

SSF chair Lucinda Corrigan said the LCA was one of a number of firsts for the industry.

“In order to be able to create the sate needed for the annual report, we undertook the LCA of the entire Australian flock to determine the carbon footprint of the industry,” Ms Corrigan said.

Sheep sustainability has been under the spotlight. Picture: Mathew Farrell

The LCA found there were 6.8kg of C02 equivalents per kilogram of sheep meat and 24.4 CO2 equivalents for each kilogram of greasy wool, with these amounts down 9 per cent between 2005 and 2020.

The report also showed that ground cover was increasing on paddocks grazed by sheep, with 63 per cent of sheep grazing land achieving more than 50 per cent ground cover since 2019, a lift of 13 per cent on the year before.

“We harnessed satellite imagery to measure and display vegetation changes across our sheep grazing regions,” Ms Corrigan said.

“These deep insights generated from these projects represent an important development for the understanding of the impacts on and of our 234-year-old industry.”

SSF steering group chair Dr Scott Williams said the first report was a major milestone for the industry as it worked to up its sustainability credentials.

“We are the largest producer and exporter of premium quality fine wool and the largest exporter of sheep meat in the world,” Dr Williams said.

“We are now one of the most transparent sheep and wool industries as well.

“From reducing greenhouse gas emissions and climate change adaptation to animal husbandry practices and on-farm safety, the annual report is a documented baseline on how we as an industry are performing.”