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 after four years. The project aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and competition for feed-food and land by 20% each by 2027. At the end of 2025, 219 dairy farms producing around 73 million kilograms of milk annually participated. The results show that feed-food competition has decreased by approximately 23% since the project's start, surpassing the original target. Competition for land has also fallen by 15% below the baseline. Greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram of milk have been reduced by about 8% on a relative basis, equating to a reduction of 66 grams of CO2 equivalents per kilogram in 2025. Extrapolated across total production, this represents a reduction of nearly 5,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent compared to the original production system.
These outcomes matter because they demonstrate that climate protection and resource efficiency in dairy farming can be achieved without compromising productivity. Farms are increasingly using animal feed that does not compete with human nutrition, such as by-products from food production, thereby using resources more efficiently and reducing environmental impact. The positive results are now paving the way for implementation across the entire Swiss dairy sector. Based on the project findings, the industry organisation Milch (BOM) has developed a climate calculator available to all milk producers in Switzerland since July 2026, allowing farms to calculate their greenhouse gas emissions and feed-food competition and to determine optimisation measures. By using the methods developed in the project, the dairy industry is laying the foundation for applying the progress achieved at national level, beyond the project farms, contributing to the objectives for Swiss agriculture up to 2050 adopted by the Federal Council.
For further details, the full Media release as PDF is available, along with the KlimaStaR Milk website (in German). Various KlimaStaR Milk documents, including images, video testimonials, and animated infographics, can also be accessed. The original release is available on www.newmediawire.com.
