The preliminary results of the Life Ttgg project were presented internationally through the online event organized by oriGIn entitled "Improving the efficiency of PDO cheese production processes in Europe: The Life Ttgg Project, intermediary results". The event aimed to disseminate the preliminary results regarding the implementation of the Product Environmental Footprint (Pef) methodology in the PDO Grana Padano and Comté cheese supply chains, including the possible mitigation actions identified to reduce the environmental impact to demonstrate how innovation can be introduced without invading tradition. The online event was attended by representatives of national GI associations, consortia, universities and institutions from around 20 countries.

In order to limit global warming, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades will have to be substantial and concern all productive sectors, including agriculture, which today is the source of about 10-12% of total emissions worldwide. To meet this need, in line with the Farm to Fork strategy, the cornerstone of the European Green Deal, the project has been at work since 2016, in which the two dairy DOPs opened, first in Europe, and leads them to an analysis of large scale. Born from the synergy between the Grana Padano Protection Consortium, the Polytechnic University of Milan, Ucsc University of Piacenza, the Qualivita Foundation, oriGIn, Enersem and Cniel, the project involved 68 farms, 20 dairy factories, 20 seasoners and 20 member packers. of the Consortium for the protection of Grana Padano Dop and 29 farms, 19 dairies and 5 seasoners of the Comté Dop supply chain.

The results showed that the raw milk production phase contributes 90-92% to the environmental profile of Grana Padano Dop, the cheesemaking and packaging phases for 6-7%, while the distribution and end-of-life phases for the remaining 2-3%. For the raw milk production phase, the hotspots concern the purchase of feed (34%), the own production of feed (25%), manure management (16%) and enteric fermentation (12%). For the milk transformation phase, the results underline that the most impacting factors were the consumption of heat (34%) and electricity (26%).

In the coming months, thanks to the results of the application of the Pef method to the entire chain of the dairy sector and the energy and efficiency audits carried out in dairies and stables, a software to support environmental decisions will be created that will allow cheese producers Dop to apply the Pef methodology to calculate the environmental footprint of their packaged products and at the same time to improve the production system from both an environmental and an economic point of view.