Sustainability means stewardship of land, cattle, families and rural communities. That holistic view matters because the public debate often reduces “sustainability” to environmental metrics alone. Beef producers know better, according to Matthew Cleveland, Ph.D., senior director of Global Bovine Sustainability at ABS Global.
Animal health and welfare, worker safety, food safety and environmental performance must work in sync for true sustainability. Roughly one billion people worldwide are tied to agriculture, he said. For those communities, sustainable beef is not an abstract goal—it’s a livelihood.
Retail pressure is real
Consumers still want to eat meat, and retailers still want to sell beef. The rub is greenhouse gas accounting. Most major brands have set 2030 emissions targets, and for retailers, roughly 80-90% of their footprint lives in “Scope 3”—referring to all indirect greenhouse gas emissions in their value chain that they do not own or control. In this case, it’s on farms and ranches where these retailers don’t have direct control.
This has led to a surge in interest (and money) in supply chain programs that can validate carbon intensity reductions without sacrificing animal care, product quality or producer margins. If the industry can offer credible sustainability attributes, Cleveland said, it can protect access to markets and potentially command more value.
Plenty of tools help shrink emissions intensity—nutrition, management, health and new technologies. But genetic change is cumulative and permanent, he said. In the last few decades, pounds of beef produced per animal has climbed. The same story is true for milk. Genetics isn’t the only reason, but it’s a big one.
Genetic improvement is also a primary pathway to lower global livestock emissions. Producers already chase productivity and efficiency in animal breeding, and selection pressure aimed at economically relevant traits doubles as climate work.
Supply chain value
However, progress on paper isn’t enough. Retailers want audited, claimable impacts. Cleveland said ABS has been building that bridge by pairing targeted breeding programs with measurement.
One example is beef-on-dairy in the United Kingdom, where ABS is collecting individual feed and water intake, carcass and growth data, rumen composition and enteric emission measurements (from GreenFeed and whole-animal systems). They’re also exploring the rumen microbiome as an “enhanced phenotype” and how microbial communities are tied to efficiency and methane production.
ABS wrapped these datasets into a third-party life cycle assessment—the gold standard for product environmental claims—and accounted explicitly for genetic differences. The result: selecting the best genetics delivered a 5-9% lower carbon intensity per kilogram of product. That number is additive year after year. Stack five years of progress, and it could mean a 30-40% reduction in intensity from genetics compounding, without changing the product or shorting animal care.
Ranch-level actions
Producers already selecting for growth, feed efficiency, health and carcass value are on the sustainability path—whether they use that label or not, Cleveland said. The trick now is to package those gains so they’re verifiable and valuable to buyers. That’s where integrated or aligned supply chains, targeted matings (terminal versus maternal), sexed semen and strategic AI use come in. Put the right genetics in the right cows for the right grid or program, and document the outcomes.
Cleveland said to expect to see more “in-set” carbon programs, or retailer-backed carbon initiatives, that pay within a supply chain for reductions rather than buying offsets elsewhere. Beef-on-dairy is an early mover, but conventional beef systems are next. Producers who can show lower emissions intensity alongside strong performance will be first in line.
Takeaways
• Use the tools we already have, and target economically relevant traits. AI, sexed semen, disciplined mating systems and data capture are underutilized. Traits related to feed conversion, growth, health, and carcass merit drive both profit and lower carbon intensity per pound.
• Evidence beats slogans. Retailers and consumers need proof that beef can be both profitable and responsible. Genetics provides a durable, compounding path to deliver that proof.
• Send clear signals. If packers and retailers want lower Scope 3, premiums and contracts must reward genetics and practices that deliver it.
• Profit first. Sustainability that hurts margins won’t scale. Better cattle that finish efficiently and hit the specs may earn a premium for verified sustainability attributes. Keep selecting hard, align with buyers who value it and make the data work for you.
• Measure credibly. Life Cycle Assessment metrics (e.g., CO₂e per lb or kg of beef) are the common language across the chain. — Beef Improvement Federation
