Methane reduction solutions: summary
- Methane from livestock drives rapid warming and demands urgent industry action
- Productivity improvements can cut emissions while boosting farm income and resilience
- Feed additives show promise but face cost barriers and deployment limits
- Natural forages and silvopasture reduce methane while enhancing farm productivity
- Genetic selection and vaccines offer scalable future pathways for methane reduction
To say that methane is a food industry problem is putting it lightly. It’s been found that the 45 largest meat and dairy companies emit more methane than all 27 EU nations and the UK combined.
As a highly potent greenhouse gas, methane traps more than 80 times more heat in the atmosphere over a 20-year period. It’s a major culprit in short-term global warming. And although this presents an undeniable challenge for industry, it’s also a major opportunity.
Elizabeth Sturcken, VP, net zero ambition and action, at energy giant EDF puts it best: “Methane offers the ‘emergency brake’ on climate change – addressing it can slow warming almost immediately."
Yet despite broad recognition of methane’s potential, far less is understood about the proven tools industry can deploy right now to cut emissions – and, as Sturcken notes, help reduce the rate of rising temperatures today.
Here are four solutions companies can add to their toolkit, plus one radical idea. It’s a moonshot, certainly, but if it works, it could be a total gamechanger.
1. The power of productivity
This may not be the sexiest solution on the table, but it’s also not a radical moonshot. Improving meat or dairy productivity should be the first step for any farmer or industry player looking to move the needle on methane emissions.
“Produce more with the same resources, then eventually reduce herd numbers,” says Donald Moore, executive director of member organisation Global Dairy Platform.
In concrete terms, boosting productivity can mean anything from ensuring cows have access to clean water, investing in basic animal husbandry, and presenting feed properly, instead of just “dumping it”. It can also mean adding trees to landscapes, and converting degraded pasture to high-intensity pasture.
In Tanzania, a pilot project incorporating some of these measures saw a 25% increase in productivity and farm income respectively, and a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity, says Moore. “These practices are low-cost, immediately deployable, and improve productivity and farmer income.”
Methane offers the ‘emergency brake’ on climate change
Elizabeth Sturcken, VP, net zero ambition and action, EDF
Farmer Luis Fernando Laranja de Fonseca, founder and chief executive of Caaporã Agrosilvopastoril, says in his native Brazil there’s huge opportunity to cut emissions this way. Average emissions sit around 50kg CO2e per kg of meat, but his farm now achieves 20-25 CO2e per kg – simply by improving efficiency.
The potential is enormous. By improving systems overall, he estimates emissions could be lowered by four or fivefold. “No other industry offers this scale of opportunity.”
2. Feed additives - you’ve heard of Bovaer?
On the surface, feed additives promise a panacea for the methane problem. Just add a special mixture to cow feed on a regular basis, and reduce how much methane is produced in the stomach.
The best known is DSM-Firmenich’s Bovaer, a seaweed-derived feed additive that aims to reduce methane emissions from cow burps by up to 30-40%. There are others, but Bovaer is among those leading the field – backed by some of the strongest evidence for its effectiveness. It may not be favoured by consumers, but that’s another story.
Dive deeper into how feed additives work, and it becomes apparent it’s not always the silver bullet many purport it to be.
These kinds of additives can be expensive for farmers, and that’s not always the most limiting factor. Feed additives suppress methane when administered regularly, but that can’t always be possible, explains Andy Jarvis, director, future of food, at Bezos Earth Fund. “They only work when farmers have frequent contact with animals, which is difficult in extensive grazing systems where cattle are monitored infrequently.”
Questions around the effectiveness of feed additives persist, and it’s been suggested that additives on the market don’t always work long term, since cows’ stomach microbes can adapt.
3. Natural grasses, forages and silvopasture
Silvo-what? The term is silvopasture, and it’s used to describe an ancient agroforestry practice that integrates trees, forage and livestock grazing on the same land. Silvopastoral systems can offer complementary methane reduction and productivity benefits for farmers and industry alike.
Particular natural grasses can have a similar effect, explains Bezos Earth Fund’s Jarvis. “Some contain compounds that suppress methane – like nature’s own feed additives."
In fact, research suggests that one particular forage species can cut methane production by as much as 22%, simply by cows grazing it, he says. Which could also open doors to plant-breeding, with methane reduction in mind. “Grass and forage breeding is an underexploited solution.”
4. Low-methane genetics
From plant-breeding, we move into the slightly more sci-fi realm of agriculture with breeding for low-methane genetics. The concept works by identifying and breeding livestock that naturally produce less methane during digestion, to make incremental methane improvements per generation.
Two cows can look identical, but differ by 30% in methane emissions
Andy Jarvis, director, future of food, Bezos Earth Fund
Selecting and breeding for naturally low-methane animals is a promising and scalable solution, believes Bezos Earth Fund’s Jarvis. “Two cows can look identical, but differ by 30% in methane emissions.”
This approach comes with the added benefit of cows not needing daily intervention; it can work in extensive grazing systems, which are not uncommon in beef farming across countries like Brazil, Argentina or Australia.
5. The moonshot: a methane vaccine
And then we come to the most radical idea, the one-shot methane vaccine that’s currently in development.
Considered the “holy grail” in methane reduction, a vaccine is thought to significantly reduce GHG emissions from livestock by inducing antibodies that suppress methane-producing bacteria in the cow’s stomach. It would be administered at birth, but then be effective through an entire animal’s life.
Like all new drugs, price would fall over time. A methane vaccine could therefore offer a low-cost solution for extensive, low-intervention systems, explains Bezos Earth Fund’s Jarvis. “It could be transformative for emerging markets”.
This kind of solution may not be that far away, with commercial availability estimated to be five to ten years away. But, a key challenge remains, explains Global Dairy Platform’s Moore. Like with any new solution, adoption rates can suffer without financial benefits on the table: “Farmers must have an economic incentive or they won’t adopt new technologies.”
A one-shot methane vaccine could be transformative for emerging markets
Andy Jarvis, director, future of food, Bezos Earth Fund
Ultimately, that’s the heart of the methane challenge. New technologies will continue to emerge, but without meaningful financial incentives, industry progress risks stalling. Many methane‑reducing solutions currently cost farms money without delivering direct on‑farm returns, and that’s a real concern.
But it’s also a challenge we can’t afford to sideline, given both the scale of the problem and the opportunity it presents. For food and beverage manufacturers, it means reframing methane not just as a risk to manage, but as a business opportunity – one that delivers value while driving meaningful climate impact.
