BETTED Project — EU LIFE Programme: Workshops

Europe's dairy sector still relies on fossil fuels for 60–80% of its energy needs. The business case for change is strong: industrial heat pump projects are already delivering 36–59% CO₂ reductions in real dairy plants, and one French milk and cheese manufacturer is saving €125,000 per year after replacing gas steam boilers with heat-recovery chillers and a high-temperature heat pump. Yet uptake — especially among SMEs — remains low due to limited technical capacity and difficulty building the investment case.
BETTED (Boosting Energy Transition of ThE Dairy Value Chain) is a three-year EU LIFE-funded initiative led by the University of Brescia that addresses this gap. The ten-partner consortium — including IIR, EHPA and IEECP — delivers free, hands-on training and a suite of seven practical decision tools to help dairy companies assess and act on energy efficiency, heat pump deployment, biogas and cold chain optimisation. All tools are free. The workshop will demonstrate the toolbox live on anonymised dairy data.