Methane mitigation startups

Methane mitigation startups: Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy have led a $12M Seed round for Rumin8, an Australian startup feeding seaweed to cows to tackle methane emissions.

And they’re not the only startup taking on methane, which is responsible for over 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

The major difference between CO2 and methane is that while CO2 stays in the atmosphere for centuries capturing a small amount of heat consistently, methane has a short but powerful life. Methane absorbs nearly 80x more heat than CO2, but is short-lived lasting less than 20 years. This means that large reductions of its emission would have a rapid impact on climate change.

The International Energy Agency estimates we could reduce methane emissions from oil and gas by 75% by 2030 using existing technologies. The main human-caused sources of methane emissions are: agriculture (famously cows’ digestion, but also rice fields), and the oil & gas industry (leaks of gas from pipes, leaks for safety reasons, incomplete gas flaring).

From using space tech satellites to detect major methane leaks, to methane manure/cowpat capture, startups are building tech right now that can help us reach the IEA’s 2030 target.

Explore all the methane mitigation startups hitting the gas on fighting climate change.

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