Written by Agriland Team
Europe’s largest multi-stakeholder group for beef sustainability has appointed OSI Europe’s operations director and head of sustainability, Claire Donoghue as its new board chairman.
Donoghue began her three-year appointment to the European Roundtable for Beef Sustainability (ERBS) on July 15, 2020.
As board chairman, Donoghue will oversee the continued development of the sustainability platform, which launched in 2018 as a regional division of the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (GRSB).
Like its global counterpart, the ERBS works with stakeholders across the beef industry, from farmers to distributors, to guide improvements in a range of sustainability areas.
ERBS is focused in particular on animal health and welfare, animal medicine usage, farm management and greenhouse gas emissions.
“As a founding member, and staunch supporter of sustainability roundtables, OSI is thrilled to have one of our own at the helm of a group we’ve been proud to work with,” said Nicole Johnson-Hoffman, OSI’s chief sustainability officer.
Track record
Donoghue comes to the role with extensive experience both in the beef industry and as a leader within the ERBS.
Since late 2018, she has chaired its Technical Working Group, which develops strategies to recognise national and local beef sustainability programmes.
Rather than develop new standards, ERBS offers recognition to existing sustainability initiatives that commit to achieving eight common sustainability targets.
These ERBS targets include a 15% intensity reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and 50% reduction in the use of certain animal medicines (those labelled “Highest Priority Critically Important Antimicrobials” by the World Health Organisation) by 2023.
In her new role, Donoghue is closely tracking the progress of recognised programmes and platforms toward ERBS targets. She also plans to continue to closely collaborate with the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (GRSB) and expand the ERBS Board to new members and representatives from more European countries.
“This is an exciting time to chair the ERBS. The Technical Working Group have worked closely with beef stakeholders to create common goals.
“Now, we will be focusing on reporting our progress against these goals and will encourage further engagement from European stakeholders.
“I look forward to leading this group while working collaboratively with our peers and subject matter experts throughout our global network,” she said.
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