Background Dairy production has opposing effects on climate change. It generates greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions but can regulate climate through carbon storage in soils. Hence, cattle rearing management techniques can strongly impact on the sustainability of this activity. Nevertheless, studies reveal that knowledge gaps exist amongst French Dairy farmers about the use of different agricultural practices on GHG emissions, and the availability of new innovative practices that possess low carbon footprints. Work is thus needed to increase awareness amongst French dairy sector stakeholders about their role in contributing to the EU’s climate action agenda. Objectives The main objective of the LIFE Carbon dairy project is to promote a milk production approach that is capable of reducing GHG emissions by 20% over 10 years. To achieve this goal, the partners aim to: Provide livestock farmers and their technical and administrative environment with tools and methods to understand the issue, to guide and modify their technical choices in order to reduce GHG emissions and preserve carbon stored in soils; Promote innovative livestock farming systems and associated practices to ensure the technical, economic, environmental and social sustainability of dairy farms, and thus to improve interactions between climate change and livestock production; Launch a national campaign to demonstrate to livestock farmers and agricultural advisers the interest and feasibility of a 'climate roadmap' for milk production; and Develop this 'roadmap' for milk production with carbon action plans adapted to each production system and a relevant partnership strategy implemented at the national level. The project will be conducted in six representative dairy regions of France and investigations will concern a sample of 3 900 farms located across the six regions to enable the large-scale assessment of carbon impact. Expected results: The project expects to achieve the following: An effective reduction of 139 761 tonnes of CO2 emissions in the 3 900 demonstration farms (in compliance with the objectives of 20% GHG reduction over 10 years); Creation of tools for farmers and technical advisers that can be used to assess the carbon impact of milk production and support decision-making; Biennial assessments of the GHG emitted by the 3 900 demonstration farms within the four-year duration of the project (i.e. two assessments in total); Creation of a database of technical, economic and environmental outcomes achieved by the demonstration farms; Consolidation of carbon plans on 60 innovative farms; A climate roadmap for milk production, describing the action plans and the partnership strategy to be put in place for the deployment of the approach on a national basis; and An analysis of the economic and social feasibility of the carbon plan in milk production, including its economic impact on the dairy industry.