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The Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI) has upheld a complaint against Ireland’s National Dairy Council (NDC) for “greenwashing” dairy in a recent advert.
Read more: Dairy Cows Make Up 66% Of All Farm Cattle Killed In Ireland
The TV ad featured a rugby player claiming in a voiceover that Irish milk is “naturally nutritious, sustainably produced.” The ASAI received three complaints stating that the ad was “misleading” and “greenwashing.” They said that the Irish dairy industry was environmentally damaging and that agriculture was Ireland’s biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions. The complaints also said that cattle farming and the use of synthetic fertilizers were the main culprits for biodiversity loss in the country.
Considering the complaints and the rebuttal from the NDC, the ASAI concluded that there was no evidence for the ad’s “absolute claim that milk was ‘sustainably produced’.” The ad is not allowed to be shown again in its current form.
This is the second time in less than a year that the NDC has been forced to withdraw an ad greenwashing Irish dairy. In December 2023, the ASAI upheld complaints against a NDC ad claiming that “Irish dairy has one of the lowest dairy carbon footprints in the world.” The ad also said that, “litre for litre, Irish milk has a footprint half the size of milk produced in most other countries.”
Irish dairy
Irish farming groups and politicians frequently claim that Ireland’s dairy and beef production is the most “carbon-efficient” in the world. But data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shows that Irish milk has a higher emissions intensity than many EU countries, and is middling for beef production.
While the emissions intensity of Irish milk and beef has been trending downwards, absolute emissions have increased due to the growth of the dairy herd. Between 2012 and 2022, the number of dairy cows rose by about 40 percent to 1.6 million. Enteric fermentation, meaning methane burped out by cows, accounts for 63 percent of Ireland’s agricultural emissions. Dairy alone is responsible for around 17 percent of the country’s overall emissions.
Read more: Bird Flu In Dairy Cows: How Worried Should We Be?
In a bid to meet its national climate targets, the Irish government has tried to get a handle on dairy emissions by asking farmers to reduce animal numbers. In 2023 it suggested doing this by culling 65,000 dairy cows a year for three years. The Irish government has also acknowledged that Ireland will struggle to meet its emissions reduction targets while its milk production keeps increasing.
Agricultural practices in Ireland are driving the decline of nature in the country, negatively impacting more than 70 percent of habitats. The range and abundance of more than half of Ireland’s native plant species have shrunk due to factors such as grazing pressures and over-fertilization.
