The KlimaStaR Milk resource project, a cross-industry initiative launched in 2022 by Emmi, Nestlé, aaremilch, ZMP, and AgroCleanTech with support from the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture, has reported significant progress in its fourth year. The project aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and competition for feed-food and land by 20% each by 2027. As of the end of 2025, 219 dairy farms producing approximately 73 million kilograms of milk annually were participating.
According to the project's latest findings, feed-food competition has been reduced by around 23% since the start, already exceeding the original 20% target. Competition for land has also decreased by 15% below the baseline, indicating more efficient use of resources. Farms are increasingly relying on animal feed that does not compete with human nutrition, such as by-products from food production, and are producing more milk and animal protein on the same or only slightly larger area.
Greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram of milk have been reduced by about 8% on a relative basis since the project began. In 2025, farms reduced emissions per kilogram of milk by 66 grams of CO2 equivalents through adjustments to their production systems. While absolute emissions increased slightly due to higher overall milk production, they remained lower than they would have been without the measures. Extrapolated to the 73 million kilograms of milk produced, this equates to a reduction of nearly 5,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent compared with the original production system.
However, further reductions are challenging due to high investments and long planning horizons, and because Switzerland's baseline greenhouse gas emissions were lower than initially assumed and below the international average. In the remaining two years, farms will receive individual guidance and tailored advice, with those that have successfully lowered emissions sharing their experiences.
The positive results have encouraged the industry to expand its commitment. Based on the project findings, the industry organisation Milch (BOM) developed a climate calculator that has been available to all Swiss milk producers since July 2026. This tool allows farms to calculate their greenhouse gas emissions and feed-food competition and determine optimisation measures. By using the methods developed in the project, the dairy industry is laying the foundation for applying the progress at national level, contributing to the Swiss Federal Council's objectives for agriculture up to 2050, which include more climate-friendly production and increased use of grass and by-products.
For those interested in detailed data and resources, a Media release as PDF is available, along with the KlimaStaR Milk website (in German) and Various KlimaStaR Milk documents: images, video testimonials and animated infographics. The original release can be viewed on www.newmediawire.com.
