Canada to Offer Farmers Financial Incentives to Reduce Methane Emissions From Cow Burps

Alberta cattle feeding on a ranch outside Calgary, Alta., in a file photo. David Buston/AFP/Getty Images

Ottawa has announced a new economic incentive program for beef cattle farmers in a bid to reduce methane emissions from bovine burps.

The Dec. 10 announcement is the latest initiative introduced by Canada during COP28, the global climate conference currently taking place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Known as the REME protocol, the Reducing Enteric Methane Emissions from Beef Cattle proposal would enable farmers to earn credits by reducing methane emissions generated by their cattle. Each credit, which represents one tonne of emission reductions, can then be sold by farmers to “facilities that will use them to meet emissions reduction obligations, or to other businesses to meet their low-carbon economy commitments,” Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) said in its draft protocol.

Enteric methane emission refers to the release of methane into the air when cows burp, having been generated during the natural digestive process of cows.

To earn credits, farmers can make government-recommended changes to their livestock’s diets, such as adding ionophores, yeasts, essential oils, or other digestion enhancers to their food. The protocol also recommends the use of growth promoters such as beta-agonists or hormonal implants to increase feed efficiency and “improve animal growth.”

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault describes REME as a way of harnessing “the power of sustainable agriculture.”

“The newest draft protocol under Canada’s Greenhouse Gas Offset Credit System not only addresses agricultural greenhouse gases, but will provide a financial benefit for Canadian farmers,” Mr. Guilbeault said in the Dec. 10 press release.

“This is an opportunity for farmers to implement practical solutions to reduce agricultural methane emissions, generate revenue, and harvest a greener future for all.”

The REME program builds on current protocols published under Canada’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Offset Credit System. Ottawa describes the credit system as one of the measures the country is taking to reduce domestic GHG emissions by 40 to 45 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.

The government plans to publish the final protocol in the summer of 2024, when farmers can “begin registering their projects” in the credit system.

Cow Emissions Effect

In its news release, ECCC says agriculture was responsible for 31 percent of Canada’s total methane emissions in 2021, with the majority of those emissions coming from enteric fermentation produced by beef and dairy cattle.

Not all experts agree with the assertion that the methane generated by livestock contributes to climate change, however.

In a 2019 interview with animal nutrition company Alltech, University of California, Davis, professor Frank Mitloehner, a member of the animal science department, said the methane produced by cattle is far less worrisome than other greenhouse gases.

He said carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide have a “very long lifespan” and can stay in the air for hundreds or even thousands of years, while methane has a lifespan of 10 years.

After a decade, the emitted methane is destroyed, he said, adding that countries that keep their level of livestock steady also keep methane rates steady.

And thus, “If they keep their methane steady, then they are not increasing global warming. So, do we increase global warming with our livestock herds? The answer to that is no, as long as we don’t increase herd sizes.”

“All the emission inventories and all the media output that you hear assumes that all the methane that’s generated by, let’s say, cattle, adds up, but it doesn’t,” Mr. Mitloehner said. “At the rate it’s emitted, it’s being destroyed. That makes methane very, very different from the other gases.”