The farmers and food industry giants have joined forces with a groundbreaking agreement to quickly track rapid sustainability across the UK’s dairy supply chain.
One of the UK’s longest environmental initiatives, the updated Dairy Roadmap connects the complete value chain from farm gates to foodservice, promoting advances in climate targets, water use, biodiversity and animal welfare.
The initiative, launched in 2008, unites key retailers, processors, foodservice leaders and farmers in a single coordinated effort to tackle the sector’s environmental footprint.
Set goals and goals in areas such as farm emissions, energy efficiency, water usage, and waste management.
The Roadmap also supports the global goal of limiting warming to 1.5ºC, pledging to zero contributions to global warming by 2050 from the dairy sector.
A new steering group was established to oversee the initiative, along with representatives from Arla Foods UK, Dale Farm, Muller UK & Ireland, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and McDonald’s.
Its first major milestone is the Independent Sustainable Dairy Pathway Report, scheduled for 2026, identifying the innovation, funding and collaboration needed to achieve its net zero goal.
Bas Padberg, managing director of Arla Foods UK and new steering group chair, said the Alliance shows just how serious the UK dairy sector is about the change.
“We demonstrate our commitment to creating a more resilient and sustainable future for food across the industry and with our largest retailers and foodservice partners,” he said.
“As a natural source of nutrition, the future of dairy products is bright and we look forward to guiding a joint effort to promote real change.”
Dairy UK CEO Judith Bryans praised the roadmap’s renewal mark for “major milestones” and praised the sector “integrating the value chain to reach net zero, protecting and strengthening nature along the way.”
She said: “The Dairy Roadmap is one of the longest-established sustainability initiatives in the food sector, starting in 2008 and with nearly 18 years of hard work and the success of its name.”
Paul Tompkins, chairman of the NFU National Dairy Board, added that dairy farmers welcomed the new collaboration and emphasized that they were unable to meet the demands of sustainability alone.
He warned that the rising costs and complexity of compliance require support from across the supply chain. “The whole sector must stand on this growing challenge to maintain its precious place in the basket,” he said.
Over the coming months, farmers and stakeholders will be invited to help shape sustainable dairy pathway reports through a series of engagement opportunities.
