Dairy Methane Disclosure: A guide for publicly disclosing dairy methane emissions

Actionable Insights for a Decarbonizing World

Dairy Methane Disclosure

A guide for publicly disclosing dairy methane emissions

Building on separate guidance on dairy methane accounting, this guide aims to help companies determine which dairy methane emissions metrics to disclose and how to publicly disclose them in alignment with dairy methane disclosure best practices and leading environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting frameworks.

Why Disclose Dairy Methane Emissions?

Ensure accountability and transparently communicate methane emissions impacts and activities publicly to stakeholders, including investors, regulatory bodies, customers, civil society, and others
Track progress over time and identify opportunities to target reduction efforts
Be an industry leader on climate disclosure and catalyze other companies to follow suit

What to Disclose

Reporting year
Total scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions
Scope 1 methane emissions by source (e.g., enteric, manure management, etc.)
Scope 3 methane emissions by source (e.g., enteric, manure management, etc.)
Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets
Methane-specific targets, if any
Annual actions and progress from previous year

How and Where to Disclose

Disclosures should be annual and publicly available.
Disclosure in a public, web-based CSR/ESG/impact report at minimum.

Additional private reporting opportunities include:

Financial disclosures, as required by applicable regulations
Reporting platforms and frameworks: CDP (platform), ISSB, SASB, TCFD, GRI (frameworks)
Customer reporting platforms: Walmart Project Gigaton, THESIS, others

Methane-emissions disclosure opportunities within key reporting platforms, frameworks and standards.

Next Steps

Ultimately, disclosing agricultural dairy methane sends the market signal that methane reduction is a priority, thereby defining industry leadership and catalyzing other dairy sector companies to do the same.

The next step of this work is for companies to develop methane action plans for their dairy value chains. Dairy methane action plans (DMAPs) are critical in providing transparency to external stakeholders on how companies are addressing the business risks associated with climate change and how they intend to achieve their climate and/or methane targets. Methane action planning also signals the importance of the work in the marketplace and demonstrates industry-wide leadership on climate. Stay tuned for our dairy methane action planning guide, slated for publication in 2025.

Join Us: Would your company like to learn more about the Dairy Methane Action Alliance and learn from peers and EDF’s experts to build out your company’s dairy methane action strategy? Get in touch with our team here.