An Australian climate technology start-up that is focused on bringing down the methane that is emitted through cow burps has got captured the attention of the billionaire Bill Gates who has invested in the start-up.

Apart from carbon dioxide (CO2), the second most common and widely polluting greenhouse gas is Methane, which is claimed to be more deadly in terms of contributing to climate change.

Methane is produced in the stomachs of livestock such as cows, goats and deer during the process of digestion by breaking down hard fibres that they eat such as grass. The greenhouse gas is produced during this fermentation process which is mostly exhaled out by the animals through burps.

According to studies by universities, seaweed as fodder for cows has the potential for significantly reducing emissions of methane gas in this manner.

The area of focus of the start-up in question – Rumin8, based in Perth, is on a dietary supplement. The start-up is developing a synthetically replicated diet for cows from red seaweed which halts the process of creation of methane.

In a statement, the start-up has said that it had raised $12 million in a funding round that was led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which Gates founded in 2015.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Chinese entrepreneur and Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma are also investors in the firm.

“We have been very pleased with the reception we have received from climate impact funds around the world,” Rumin8’s managing director David Messina said.

“There is a genuine desire to fund solutions to enteric methane emissions from livestock and fortunately for Rumin8, they can see the benefits of our technology,” he added.

In an effort to combat climate change, New Zealand proposed taxing greenhouse gases emitted by farm animals while burping and urinating last October. Farmers will be required to pay for agricultural emissions in some form under the world’s first scheme by 2025.

Agriculture produces nearly half of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions, primarily methane. Methane levels in the atmosphere reached record highs in 2019, roughly two and a half times higher than in the pre-industrial era.

Scientists are concerned because methane has a significant impact on global warming.

Individual methane molecules warm the atmosphere more powerfully than single CO2 molecules.

Methane is 28 to 34 times more warming than CO2 over a 100-year period.

(Adapted from BBC.com)

Categories: Economy & Finance, Entrepreneurship, Regulations & Legal, Strategy, Sustainability, Uncategorized