Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the methodology used to calculate the carbon sequestration generated by cattle.

Defra has evaluated the methodologies used in on-farm carbon calculators to assess greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration on-farm. This found that methodologies differed between these calculators. For example, there was no consistent, agreed approach taken to assess and report carbon removals or emissions from soil, land use or land use change. This divergence and a lack of verification has driven confusion, reducing trust and confidence in the resulting figures.

Building on the recommendations from the above research, Defra remains committed to developing a harmonised approach for measuring carbon emissions from farms. This will increase consistency and comparability across tools, thereby reducing uncertainty for farmers and the rest of the supply chain.

Defra also funds research to establish the impacts of farm systems, including bringing the latest cutting-edge science into the UK’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory.