Sustainability in the dairy industry: why economics and safety have become central to the conversation.

This article is part of the Regenerative Awakening column, a joint initiative of ESGpec and MilkPoint dedicated to exploring, based on technical and applied principles, the paths to sustainability in milk production.

In the first two articles of this column, we discussed access, data, and empowerment. First, we presented the Regenerative Awakening as a movement that democratizes tools that unite sustainability and everyday practices in the field. Then, we analyzed how Brazilian livestock farming has come to occupy a central place on the climate agenda, with numbers, science, and responsibility.

This third text goes a step further. It starts from a simple but crucial observation: sustainability is no longer just an environmental agenda. Today, it is also a matter of economics, security, and geopolitics . In this context, what many analysts are already calling ESG 2.0 emerges .

From ESG as a metric to ESG as a strategy.

Although the concept of ESG has been used for over two decades, it was mainly from 2015 onwards that the term became established as a set of good corporate practices related to the environment, social responsibility, and corporate governance. This is an important step forward, but in many cases, it has been limited to reports, metrics, and institutional speeches.

This framework began to change rapidly from 2020 onwards. Pandemics, wars, successive extreme weather events, inflation in food and energy prices, logistical disruptions, and trade tensions have made it clear that the problems of today's world are no longer isolated events.

Sustainability has therefore become a fundamental link for overcoming crises , keeping production chains functioning, and ensuring social stability.

Who is initiating this debate?

Recent reports from the World Economic Forum have begun to treat climate, energy, food, and geopolitics as parts of a system of interconnected risks. The notion of polycrisis has gained traction, explaining this overlapping of vulnerabilities.

In the financial sphere, leaders like Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, have reinforced that sustainability is not a reputational agenda, but rather a matter of economic and systemic risk management . Environmental, social, and governance risks directly impact business aspects such as return on capital, market stability, and long-term investment decisions.

Multilateral organizations such as the FAO have repositioned food security as a central axis of social and political stability. Reports such as The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World and the Global Report on Food Crises show that failures in food systems amplify conflicts, migrations, and instabilities, especially in food-producing countries (Figure 1). It is evident that food crises result from the combination of conflicts and climatic and economic shocks, which reinforces the systemic reading that underpins the concept of ESG 2.0.

Where does agriculture fit into ESG 2.0?

Few sectors are as central as agriculture in this transition from ESG metric to strategy. Milk, beyond being a commodity, occupies an important space. A staple food, with continuous production, highly dependent on climate, energy, logistics, data, and skilled labor, resulting in a system sensitive to disruptions, with direct impacts on prices, supply, and income in the field.

In ESG 2.0:

• The E (environmental) aspect connects to economic viability, productive efficiency, and climate adaptation;

• you (social) involves food security, nutrition, work in the countryside and social stability;

• the G (Governance) now considers the dairy sector within a geopolitical context, in terms of productive sovereignty and the demand for transparency in global supply chains.

Sustainability then ceases to be merely an attribute for differentiating oneself from the competition and becomes a condition for remaining in the market .

Data, decision-making, and remaining in the territory.

Building this new ESG requires reliable data, clear indicators, and the ability to transform information into practical decisions within the farm gate, going far beyond generic rhetoric.

Initiatives like the Regenerative Awakening contribute to this construction. By allowing producers free access to tools to calculate the carbon footprint of milk and understand their animal welfare and ESG performance indicators, the project enables the inclusion of a global agenda in practical decisions applied to the day-to-day operations of the farm.

Ultimately, ESG 2.0 in agriculture is about strengthening the producer's ability to understand their own system , reduce risks, and build productive resilience, rather than focusing solely on meeting external demands.

A new place for the producer in the global debate.

If ESG 2.0 creates a new challenge for the field, it is that of generating and communicating information. After all, ESG as a strategy brings to light something that producers have always known: producing well, efficiently and responsibly, is directly linked to social development.

Connected to the economy, food security, and the global landscape, Brazilian milk is becoming part of the solution to environmental, social, and governance challenges.

How to participate in the Regenerative Awakening

Dairy farmers can participate in the project for free and obtain indicators of their farms' carbon footprint, animal welfare, and ESG performance .

Simply visit despertarregenerativo.com.br and register.

Access is individual, valid for 12 months, and includes email support throughout the entire period.

Learn about your farm's ESG indicators, find out how to improve them, and start your regenerative awakening today.

What we read to write this article

World Economic Forum – The Global Risks Report 2024 https://www.weforum.org/publications/global-risks-report-2024/

Larry Fink – Annual Letters to CEOs (2022–2024), BlackRock https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/investor-relations/larry-fink-ceo-letter

FAO – The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) https://www.fao.org/publications/sofi/en/

FAO et al. – Global Report on Food Crises 2025 https://www.fightfoodcrises.net/report/global-report-food-crises-2025/

OECD – Reports on economic resilience and food systems https://www.oecd.org/agriculture/topics/food-systems/