Bill Gates Funding Startup Looking to Cut Down Methane Emission From Cows

Bill Gates Funding Startup Looking to Cut Down Methane Emission From Cows
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates attends a meeting with South Korea's National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, on Aug. 16, 2022. Kim Hong-ji/Pool Photo via AP
Naveen Athrappully
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Bill Gates is investing in an Australian startup focusing on reducing methane emissions from cows through a lab-grown feed additive, with the company planning to use the funds for commercial trials and setting up manufacturing, even as experts question the practicality of methane-focused scientific pursuits.

Gates-led Breakthrough Energy Ventures LLC (BEV) was part of a $12 million phase-2 seed funding for Perth-based Rumin8, which is developing a livestock supplement made from synthetically replicated bromoform, which is the active ingredient found in red seaweed. The supplement is said to result in less gas and indigestion among cows, thereby lowering methane emissions.