Investment Roadmap: Digital Services for Livestock Methane in LMICs

In many low-and-middle income countries (LMICs), livestock productivity remains low, despite the growing demand for animal protein. At the same time, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity is relatively high, and absolute emissions are starting to rise. Livestock productivity can be significantly increased through the implementation of established good practices, and the appropriate use of technologies and resources. Implementation of these measures can increase productivity and reduce emissions against business-as-usual conditions. However, in contrast to higher-performing livestock production systems, many LMICs largely lack the advisory, extension, and related services that enable producer knowledge and uptake of such measures. The result is stagnant growth in livestock productivity and high emission intensities.

At the same time, governments and the livestock sector are under pressure to reduce GHG emissions, but they lack data and related insights to formulate and monitor effective policies and to be able to report progress on climate commitments. The limited availability of data, tools and capacities to streamline mitigation and adaptation measures into national climate policies also hinders the ability of governments to attract climate finance. These constraints also prevent international financial institutions (IFIs) from making tailored investments that produce quantifiable GHG emissions reductions and allow progress tracking in relation to national policy implementation.

Digital services for livestock (DSL) can help address these interrelated challenges but are currently underutilised. By enhancing access to and dissemination of advisory services to increase the uptake of good practices, DSL can support increased production efficiency and can leverage the climate- and financial co- benefits of mitigation interventions. DSL can provide data for GHG emissions accounting which can strengthen policy frameworks and lead to increased opportunities to access climate finance.

This roadmap was developed to provide guidance to i) governments to integrate DSL into livestock development and climate strategies and to strengthen national inventories and reporting; and ii) IFIs to mainstream DSL into their investment portfolio, to be able to support governments to reach their climate and development goals and to develop reliable Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems for monitoring climate co-benefits of their investments.

The Solutions Group Approach

This roadmap was developed by a Solutions Group convened by Livestock Data for Decisions (LD4D) and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC). The Solutions Group brings together a diverse team of experts working in livestock, climate, finance, policy, and digital innovation, to co-develop practical, evidence- based guidance to increase investment in the adoption and scaling of DSL.

By bringing these diverse perspectives together, the Solutions Group ensures that this roadmap is not only technically robust, but also practical, policy-relevant, and aligned with global climate and development goals. It creates a foundation for deeper collaboration and concerted action across organisations and sectors to promote DSL that delivers methane and GHG emissions reductions and development co-benefits for all value-chain actors, across the entire livestock sector.