Billionaire Bill Gates has invested in an Australian climate technology start-up that aims to reduce methane emissions from cow burps.
The Microsoft co-founder has been open about the environmental impact of meat production.
Methane is the most common greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide (CO2).
Livestock like cows, goats and deer produce methane when their stomachs break down hard fibers like grass for digestion.
Methane gas is produced during this fermentation process, which is then usually spat out again.
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University studies have shown that feeding algae to cows could significantly reduce their methane emissions.
Perth-based start-up Rumin8 is working on a dietary supplement – synthetically recreated from red algae – that will stop the gas from forming.
In a statement, the company said it had raised $12million (£9.7million) in a funding round led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which Mr Gates founded in 2015.
The investment firm is also backed by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Chinese entrepreneur and Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma.
“We are very pleased with the support we have received from climate protection funds around the world,” said Rumin8 Managing Director David Messina.
“There is a real desire to fund enteral methane emission solutions from livestock and luckily for Rumin8, they can see the benefits of our technology,” he added.
Last October, New Zealand proposed taxing the greenhouse gases produced by livestock burping and urinating in a bid to combat climate change.
The world’s first scheme will see farmers pay for some form of agricultural emissions by 2025.
Almost half of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, mostly methane.
In 2019, methane in the atmosphere reached record levels, about two and a half times higher than in the pre-industrial era.
What worries scientists is that methane has a real impact when it comes to heating the planet.
Individual methane molecules have a greater warming effect on the atmosphere than individual CO2 molecules.
Over a 100-year period, methane is 28 to 34 times more warming than CO2.
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