JBS helps with a new carbon emissions protocol developed specifically for Brazil
18/06/2014
The new platform will help environmental scientists measure emissions from a wide range of farming activities, including livestock, soybean, corn and sugar cane production. It will provide guidelines, new parameters and a tool to measure emissions from the farming industry and help manage the impact of these emissions in every area of farming.
Companies will also benefit from the new tool by being better able to understand the risks and opportunities linked to farming emissions.
A national inventory of greenhouse gases in Brazil assigns a 35% share of all emissions to farming. This prompted work on developing the new methodology, but JBS has pointed to another reason for its involvment. The company says existing international assessments of greenhouse gas emissions from farming have focused on countries with temperate climates, so it felt a specific methodology was needed for the Brazilian farming industry.
“Greenhouse gas emission factors currently used in Brazil for emissions inventories, even for product lifecycle analysis processes are based on an international model that is standardised for all countries and do not specifically reflect what occurs during farming in the southern hemisphere, in a tropical climate,” said JBS sustainability director, Márcio Nappo, in a statement at the time of announcing the new methodology. “From now on,” he continued, “we will have more accurate figures that better reflect farming in Brazil. This is very important at JBS, because the company has a vast range of cattle suppliers in different Brazilian biomes.”
The new protocol is the result of two years work by non-government organisations, private companies and academic organisations. It will allow farmers to carry out self-assessments and report their emissions annually. It will also take into account the variety of conditions farmers in different parts of Brazil experience.
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