For a sustainable future
Shaping the future of innovation for dairy farmers
Sustainability is a long-term responsibility and an integral part of how we create value for farmers, animals and society. We are committed to drive sustainable change through a strong focus on animal welfare, environmental impact, working conditions on farms, and resilient profitability.
Through our solutions and services, we help dairy farmers increase productivity and meet the growing global demand for food, while at the same time reducing the environmental footprint per kilo of milk. The figures and results presented in these sustainability pages refer to the DeLaval Group.
For a sustainable future, words from our CEO
“By setting high sustainability standards, enhancing animal welfare, and cutting emissions, we’re driving the future of responsible agriculture.“
Through our solutions, services and ways of working, we are moving beyond intent to become enablers of more sustainable dairy farming. Our daily work directly influences how milk is produced on farms around the world.
This is our story
Discover the story that has shaped DeLaval for more than 140 years. A journey of innovation, partnership, and sustainable progress driven by people who care for animals, farmers, and the future of food. This is who we are. This is Our Story.
Head of Group Sustainability
“Global sustainability targets in all areas and a defined pathway towards net zero.”
Through our Global Sustainability Group, we have defined coherent action plans across the company to deliver towards our sustainability targets. Together, we are moving closer to a more focused, integrated and impactful strategy, one that makes sustainability a natural part of how we operate.
Animal welfare
Animal welfare is a cornerstone of sustainable dairy farming. At DeLaval, we are committed to ensuring that cows are healthy and able to express their natural behaviours.
Highlights
Our new optical technology, DeLaval BioSensor Milk Cell Analysis (MCA), counts somatic cells in milk and provides precise, real-time data.
We have offered training courses throughout our organisation, including basic e-learning in animal welfare for our employees.
With DeLaval Plus, dairy farmers get a comprehensive suite of services and applications that transform on-farm data into clear, easy-to-understand insights that support animal welfare.
Our cow longevity programme aims to help herds remain productive for a longer period, which in turn lowers environmental impact while improving animal welfare.
Our animal welfare policy sets the foundation for a more ethical and sustainable future.
Our commitment and ambition
Animal welfare is fundamental to ethical and sustainable dairy farming. At DeLaval, we are committed to ensuring that cows are healthy, well cared for and able to express natural behaviours. Prioritising animal welfare benefits both the animals and the farm: healthier cows lead to better milk production, improved reproduction, reduced environmental impact and more efficient, profitable operations.
Early detection of diseases is essential to this commitment. It enables timely interventions, reduces the need for antibiotics and decreases food waste — an important contributor to CO₂e emissions — as healthier animals result in less milk being discarded.
As a leading provider of dairy equipment and services, we are deeply committed to upholding the internationally recognised ‘Five freedoms’ of animal welfare.
Case study
DeLaval fund recipients deepens understanding of cow preferences
Two studies supported by DeLaval in the US give us a deeper understanding of how cows experience and react to modern milking systems. Through research by students at Colorado State University, in collaboration with Aurora Organic Dairy in Texas, we now know more about how cows adapt to the milking system and how they can better coexist with each other on the farm. This strengthens both animal welfare and farm productivity.
Planet
We help dairy farmers to reduce our industry’s environmental impact, to create a more sustainable future with the next generation in mind.
Highlight
We set new global sustainability targets, supported by coherent plans across operations and product management and development, that will guide our sustainability development through 2030 and towards 2050.
The 2022 GHG emissions baseline was updated with more granular calculation methods, improving accuracy and helping to identify the areas where reductions will have the greatest impact.
We upgraded the DeLaval VMS™ V300 series, which now includes the Flow-Responsive™ Milking system. It adapts to each cow’s natural milk flow and ensures a smoother milking process and shorter milking times, which in turn increases productivity.
Our commitment and ambition
Environmental sustainability is the ability to maintain balance, ensuring that resources are used wisely so that future generations can meet their own needs. It is essentially about living in harmony with nature without depleting its capacity to regenerate. It is about long-term survival and well-being through the responsible management of finite resources.
Our environmental efforts are rooted in the planetary boundaries framework, a science-based model that defines the environmental limits humanity must respect in order to maintain a healthy and sustainable planet. These principles help guide our actions as we work to reduce our environmental impact and support a more sustainable future for our industry and the planet.
We focus our efforts on four key areas:
- Greenhouse gas emissions
- Energy efficiency
- Waste and recycling
- Circular materials and packaging
Case study
Milking parlour retrofit enables sustainable modernisation in China
At a Xinjiang Terun Dairy farm in China, we helped the customer extend the life of a 20-year-old parallel parlour while improving milking efficiency, animal health, and access to data. The project shows how older installations can move step by step into the future without the need for a full replacement. A benefit for both the farmer and the environment.
People
Employee engagement is central to how we work. We aim to create an environment where our people feel empowered, valued, and heard, ensuring their ideas actively shape our future.
Highlights
Advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion: We reached our target of 25% female employees and managers by 2025 and are working towards 30% by 2030.
Safety and well-being: We strengthened employee safety and risk mitigation. These improvements are reflected in the 2025 figures, with increased investment in wellness initiatives and private healthcare enhancing overall employee support.
Transparent governance: Robust policies on whistleblowing, anti-corruption and anti-bribery practices help ensure a safe and ethical workplace for all.
Our people
Fostering an inclusive culture is essential in an industry where our decisions impact livelihoods and the environment. Diversity drives innovation by bringing together perspectives that help us meet evolving customer needs.
Employee engagement guides how we work, we empower people to be heard and valued while strengthening safety and wellbeing to build a resilient community.
Our solutions support dairy farmers by improving productivity, working conditions, and animal welfare. As we advance our social responsibility efforts, we celebrate the partnerships that make our collective impact, and a more sustainable future possible.
Case study
Employee initiatives strengthen community in Poland
Across the globe, several DeLaval sites implement social sustainability strategies adapted to their unique local needs and conditions. Our sites in Wroclaw and Dobre Miasto in Poland have made a strong social impact in their community. The initiatives led by the employees have changed lives, both inside and outside the walls of DeLaval.
Profitability
For us, economic sustainability is about how we increase profitability in dairy farming, to the benefit of both farmers, animals and the planet.
Creating value that lasts
For us, economic sustainability is about how we increase profitability in dairy farming, to the benefit of both farmers, animals and the planet. Long-term profitability is built on good living conditions for cows, as healthier animals need fewer treatments and produce higher-quality milk, creating greater value for the farmer while contributing to a lower environmental footprint.
It is also about how we create an economically valuable business. In other words, we focus on ensuring fair wages and benefits for our employees. We also invest in the wider society industry investments like our Gustaf de Laval fund that funds projects that we believe will benefit the industry.
Strong financial performance enables us to attract and retain top talent, while also supporting our customers over the long term.
Innovation
Building a future where businesses thrive sustainably.
Highlights
Every new product is assessed for its contribution to our sustainability goals. Updated criteria will be applied in 2026 to ensure each product supports our global targets.
Milk Sustainability Center, a digital platform developed in collaboration with John Deere to help dairy farmers track and improve sustainability across their operations is now fully available across 13 countries.
Sustainability through innovation
Our innovations aim to improve dairy production in ways that benefit animals, farmers, and the environment while ensuring profitability. By enhancing animal welfare and productivity, our products and services help reduce emissions per kilo of milk produced.
Healthy, well‑cared‑for cows are more productive, every product and software solution we introduce has the ambition to strengthen both sustainability and animal welfare.
To maintain a high sustainability level in all innovations, each new product undergoes a thorough assessment of its contribution to our sustainability goals, with the process continuously refined as our targets evolve.
DeLaval BioSensors Milk Cell Analysis
DeLaval BioSensors Milk Cell Analysis (MCA), a groundbreaking sensor launched in 2025. It uses advanced optical technology to count somatic cells in milk while also monitoring udder health.
DeLaval VMS™ V300 series update
The 2025 model our DeLaval VMS™ V300 series is our most spacious milking robot, and includes Flow-Responsive™ Milking technology, helping to reduce milking time and provide the cow with a more comfortable milking experience.
New features in DeLaval Plus
Continuously adding new applications and features in DeLaval Plus, enabling us to collect richer, real-time data, which is then transformed into actionable insights. These insights empower farmers and dealers to make more accurate, data-driven decisions—ultimately improving sustainability, boosting profitability, and enhancing overall milking performance.
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R&D centres
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Countries that we sell in
DeLaval factories and distribution centres
