Climate impacts from beef and dairy production in Sweden: mitigation potential and multifunctionality

Cattle production contributes substantially to greenhouse gas emissions but also provides important functions beyond food production, such as ecosystem services from grazing, which may be overlooked in climate mitigation. This thesis increases knowledge on how climate impacts from beef and milk production can be quantified and reduced while considering multifunctionality and trade-offs. It investigates a method to include ecosystem services in climate impact assessments, evaluates feed-related mitigation strategies, and explores scenarios for expanding grazing on semi-natural pastures under methane limits. Including non-provisioning ecosystem services in climate impact assessments of beef and milk can have a major effect: up to 48% of emissions were attributed to these services rather than beef or milk, helping reduce the risk of losing multifunctionality in climate mitigation efforts. Feeding suckler cows cereal straw and grass-clover silage in winter did not reduce climate impact of beef due to soil carbon and deforestation emissions, but could increase food production and maintenance of semi-natural pastures, supporting ecosystem services. Giving 3-NOP to dairy cows reduced milk’s climate impact by 12% on an intensive farm (from 0.74 to 0.65 kg CO2e/kg milk) and by 9% on an extensive farm (from 0.99 to 0.91 kg CO2e/kg milk). While mitigation potential was higher on the intensive farm, the extensive farm provided more co-benefits, such as ecosystem services from grazing semi-natural pastures. Scenarios exploring ecosystem service delivery and biodiversity conservation through increased semi-natural pasture management showed that adjustments in current livestock systems (e.g., castrating bulls and keeping them as low-intensity grazing steers) could expand grazed semi-natural pastures in Sweden without increasing methane emissions. Accepting a 10% methane increase could double pasture areas. Overall, this thesis shows how climate impacts from Swedish beef and dairy production can be assessed and reduced while considering multifunctionality, highlighting the need for a systems perspective integrating emissions, ecosystem services, and food production.