Anna Flysjö receives the International Dairy Federation’s ‘Prize of Excellence’ for pioneering work on climate accounting in the dairy industry.
This year, Danish climate expert Anna Flysjö from Arla Foods has been awarded the prestigious Prize of Excellence by the International Dairy Federation (IDF).
The award is presented to Anna Flysjö together with her colleagues Sanne Dekker and Andrew Fletcher from New Zealand, in recognition of their work establishing a global standard for assessing the dairy industry’s climate impact.
Led an international expert team
Anna Flysjö has been the driving force behind the project, which has involved no fewer than 64 experts from 22 countries in the Action Team on Life Cycle Analysis and LCA Monitoring.
– I’m very happy to receive this award – it is truly an honour, says Anna Flysjö, emphasising that the prize belongs to everyone who has contributed along the way.
– It has been a real team effort across countries and continents. That has been essential, because milk production is not the same everywhere, and an international standard has to reflect those differences, she explains.
A common language for climate impact
The method, known as the IDF Carbon Footprint Standard, enables the dairy sector – across companies and countries – to measure its climate impact in a consistent way.
Based on life cycle analysis, the standard calculates greenhouse gas emissions across the entire value chain – from feed production in the fields to the moment the milk leaves the dairy.
This shared method provides a foundation for assessing global reductions in the dairy industry’s climate footprinttowards 2050.
Creating an international standard
Jan Dalsgaard Johannesen, who in 2008, as Arla’s Corporate Environment Manager, hired Anna Flysjö as a PhD student, calls the award highly deserved.
– The dairy sector became one of the first industries to establish an international climate standard. That is thanks to Anna’s work, expertise and persistence in making it happen – and she is also someone who naturally invites collaboration, says Jan Dalsgaard Johannesen.
Third Danish recipient
Anna Flysjö is the third person from the Danish dairy sector to receive the IDF Prize of Excellence. Previous Danish recipients include Claus Heggum (2015) and Christian Bruun Kastrup (2020), both from the Danish Dairy Board (L&F Dairy Sector).
The award will be presented at the International Dairy Congress, held this year in Santiago, Chile.
Photo: Arla
By Maja Løvstrup
