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UK retailer Marks & Spencer has become the latest company to enter the bovine greenhouse gas arena by setting up a GBP 1 mn fund to tackle emissions, The Guardian reports. Some of the funds will be used to cut about 11k tons of emissions annually produced by cattle burps and manure from the 40 dairy suppliers the retailer works with. Over 75% of the company’s emissions come from its supply chain.
How will they do it? M&S plans on providing the cows with a supplement made up of mineral salts and a byproduct of fermented corn that would prevent their digestive enzymes from creating methane, which should reduce the carbon footprint of their milk by 8.4% when placed in their feed.
They’re not the first: France’s Danone said last year that it is taking steps to lower its methane emissions, with possible solutions including a face mask that could trap gas produced by burping cows — just one approach in a series of unintentionally comical measures put forward to reduce methane emissions from livestock. The company also considered altering cow diets to include algae that can prevent methane from forming in the stomach.
