GO CLIMALACT: Development of sustainability protocols and indicators for the “climalact” brand

Asturias and Galicia together have 49% of the animal population and 68% of the dairy farms in Spain, which account for 4.5% of agricultural production.

The agri-food system linked to milk must be based on the use of sustainable practices based on the quantification of ecosystem services and climate neutrality, in order to provide product selection criteria to consumers through brands created for this purpose.

Milk production linked to the “CLIMALACT” brand is essential to meet these requirements, as it is associated with the use of practices associated with different types of farms (intensive, semi-intensive, semi-extensive and extensive) among which the circular economy, bioeconomy or the use of pastures stand out.

The use of sustainable practices leads to the long-awaited climate neutrality based on the potential for carbon sequestration, the high biodiversity associated with permanent pastures, the basis of the ecosystem services they provide at farm and landscape level, or the use of technologies that minimize the carbon footprint (e.g. biogas production).

The different types of farms in Asturias and Galicia that produce milk with or without associated land that is grazed or not depending on socioeconomic limitations, means that the CLIMALACT brand must be approached in a different way, adjusting to the idiosyncrasy of each type of farm.