The European Union set the ambitious goal of achieving net zero CO₂-equivalent emissions by 2050. Activities aimed at emission compensation will therefore have to be implemented in the coming years by all sectors, including agriculture and livestock. Cattle breeding appears particularly affected by this policy, as on the one hand it is currently responsible of the largest carbon footprint in the food sector in absolute terms as well as per kg of product, and because emission sources such as enteric fermentations could at most be mitigated but never eliminated.

In this study, taking as a reference an intensive dairy farm located in the Po Valley, the possibilities of reducing its carbon footprint by implementing various mitigation strategies are discussed. This was done through a cradle-to-farm gate life cycle assessment analysis applied to the current production scenario and then adapted to different alternative scenarios. While cattle farms have the opportunity to reduce their carbon footprint and indeed even generate credits through different strategies, the difficulty of reaching net zero emissions is clear in the different scenarios.

It was therefore also hypothesized how much a farm should spend, even in the various mitigation scenarios already implemented, to finally become carbon neutral, balancing its emissions by purchasing credits, considering current market prices.