Periodic Reporting for period 1 - STEP UP (Sustainable Livestock Systems Transition and Evidence Platform for Upgrading Policies)
Berichtszeitraum: 2024-01-01 bis 2025-06-30
STEP UP aims to generate clear, unambiguous and quantitative information to support greater sustainability, viability and resilience of environmentally friendly European Livestock Production Systems (ELPS). Through state-of-the-art research methodologies and thorough and effective stakeholder engagement, STEP UP will deliver a platform of measures to support European policy makers with science-based evidence on the impacts and externalities of ELPS, as part of the food and wider ecosystem. Existing knowledge on the positive and negative impacts and externalities of ELPS will be collated following a comprehensive science-based analysis of published research and policy literature. Data gaps towards improving the sustainability of ELPS across diverse social and environmental contexts will be identified. In-depth case-study analysis to harmonise existing data, identify deficits in, and opportunities for, new data collection and systems development will be carried out. New indicators for assessing the externalities of sustainable ELPS, considering all relevant value-chain factors, will be developed. Transition pathways for more sustainable and diverse ELPS, forecast scenarios including monetising impacts, will be identified. Finally, STEP UP will provide a unique and warranted platform to support the development of informed and objective policy measures to optimise the central role of livestock in meeting the nutritional and societal needs of the European and global population.
A detailed classification and description of the different European livestock production systems (ELPS) has been conducted, building upon results from the H2020 funded Pathways project. At the same time, STEP UP has completed eight systematic literature reviews (SLRs) using the PRISMA and PICO methodologies to map and measure indicators and externalities, measuring the positive and negative (sustainability) impacts of European livestock production systems (ELPs). The eight SLR represented eight respective impact categories (IC) - 1) Economic, 2) True cost accounting (TCA), 3) Social, 4) Greenhouse gases (GHG), 5) Animal health and welfare (AHW), 6) Soil health, 7) Biodiversity, and 8) Nutritional life-cycle assessment (n-LCA). Overall, 16 externalities have been identified, and 1,517 indicators from several scientific literature databases, measuring the positive/negative social, economic, and environmental impacts of ELPS, have been mapped. Additionally, using 22 descriptive and 93 system variables across six categories (environment, governance, economy, society, science and technology, and livestock production systems), the project has identified seven distinct scenario families on the European livestock production sector.
As part of the strategies to provide an evidence base to support the sustainability transition pathways for the ELPS, case studies representing European Livestock Production Systems (ELPS) and Innovative Livestock Production Systems (ILPS) have been identified and assessed. In total, STEP UP has completed the assessment of 15 ILPS, which will serve as testbeds for evaluating the feasibility of improved and new sustainability indicators and methods —a significant step towards providing evidence for the transition pathways.
The project has completed a systematic mapping of the different functional units (FUs) used in the nutritional life cycle analysis (n-LCA) of ELPS, mapped current economic indicators measuring the impacts of ELPS, and developed 13 social impact categories relevant for EU livestock production. Fifty main biodiversity indicator categories have been identified for assessing the biodiversity impact of ELPS, and 12 most essential impact categories measuring post-farm-gate sustainability within the European food system have also been identified and are currently being developed. At the same time, the method for true cost accounting (TCA) for European livestock production has also been identified, covering externalities such as climate change, acidification, eutrophication, social, economic, and biodiversity impacts. A scientific publication featuring modelling work highlighting the importance of the production system for global warming potentials in beef systems has been published in the journal Environmental Impact Assessment Review.
Overall, during the first 18 months of the project, STEP UP has been implemented according to the Description of Action (DoA). Partners have actively been working on developing of one Key Exploitable Result (KER) - STEP UP Sustainability catalogue which will include an overall evidence-based group of key project results. Building on this, six test cases are being carried out to generate results for KERs, focusing on: A) animal health and welfare impacts, B) economic performance and resilience of farms, C) validation of sustainability metrics, D) integration of farm-level and national datasets, E) environmental and climate impacts of livestock systems, and F) supporting policymakers with practical tools for assessing trade-offs and synergies. The STEP UP DEC and multi-actor engagement plan has been successfully implemented. By the time of reporting, the project’s website and communication channels had reached over 15,000 of website visits, newsletters had attracted more than 440 subscribers, and the collective social media presence surpassed 750 followers. STEP UP has already contributed to 15+ public events, produced 3 practice abstracts, and published 3 scientific publications. Finally, the modelling framework, as well as the critical data needs required to simulate future scenario development, has been defined based on three models – CAPRI, AGMEMOD, and MAFSEU. The definition of a safe and just operating space (SJOS) for EU livestock production has been determined, along with a list of dimensions, indicators, and variables to consider in future work on scenario identification and assessing potential conditions for SJOS within the EU livestock sector.
As part of the strategies to provide an evidence base to support the sustainability transition pathways for the ELPS, case studies representing European Livestock Production Systems (ELPS) and Innovative Livestock Production Systems (ILPS) have been identified and assessed. In total, STEP UP has completed the assessment of 15 ILPS, which will serve as testbeds for evaluating the feasibility of improved and new sustainability indicators and methods —a significant step towards providing evidence for the transition pathways.
The project has completed a systematic mapping of the different functional units (FUs) used in the nutritional life cycle analysis (n-LCA) of ELPS, mapped current economic indicators measuring the impacts of ELPS, and developed 13 social impact categories relevant for EU livestock production. Fifty main biodiversity indicator categories have been identified for assessing the biodiversity impact of ELPS, and 12 most essential impact categories measuring post-farm-gate sustainability within the European food system have also been identified and are currently being developed. At the same time, the method for true cost accounting (TCA) for European livestock production has also been identified, covering externalities such as climate change, acidification, eutrophication, social, economic, and biodiversity impacts. A scientific publication featuring modelling work highlighting the importance of the production system for global warming potentials in beef systems has been published in the journal Environmental Impact Assessment Review.
Overall, during the first 18 months of the project, STEP UP has been implemented according to the Description of Action (DoA). Partners have actively been working on developing of one Key Exploitable Result (KER) - STEP UP Sustainability catalogue which will include an overall evidence-based group of key project results. Building on this, six test cases are being carried out to generate results for KERs, focusing on: A) animal health and welfare impacts, B) economic performance and resilience of farms, C) validation of sustainability metrics, D) integration of farm-level and national datasets, E) environmental and climate impacts of livestock systems, and F) supporting policymakers with practical tools for assessing trade-offs and synergies. The STEP UP DEC and multi-actor engagement plan has been successfully implemented. By the time of reporting, the project’s website and communication channels had reached over 15,000 of website visits, newsletters had attracted more than 440 subscribers, and the collective social media presence surpassed 750 followers. STEP UP has already contributed to 15+ public events, produced 3 practice abstracts, and published 3 scientific publications. Finally, the modelling framework, as well as the critical data needs required to simulate future scenario development, has been defined based on three models – CAPRI, AGMEMOD, and MAFSEU. The definition of a safe and just operating space (SJOS) for EU livestock production has been determined, along with a list of dimensions, indicators, and variables to consider in future work on scenario identification and assessing potential conditions for SJOS within the EU livestock sector.
Preliminary research analyses have shown that creating effective sustainability transition pathways for the EU livestock production systems (ELPS) requires improving, developing and synergising sustainability indicators. However, analyses conducted to-date have identified a gap in data requirements and a lack of standardisation in the current indicators pool, making it a difficult task to accomplish. Even when successful, any new indicator developed would have to be incorporated into standard data collection at the EU level. For example, at the level of Eurostat or FSDN. Therefore, more regulatory support would be necessary to achieve the goal of creating an enabling environment that facilitates the transition.