Canada's government makes call for innovative ideas to tackle methane emissions
Canada's government has used COP28’s Food and Agriculture Day to release a draft protocol to incentivise farmers to reduce methane emissions from their beef cattle operations.
Through the Reducing Enteric Methane Emissions from Beef Cattle (REME) protocol, farmers will have the opportunity to generate offset credits that they can sell. It is estimated that Canada’s agricultural sector accounts for 31% of the country's total methane emissions, with the majority coming from enteric fermentation.
The protocol will incentivise farmers to reduce enteric methane emissions by improving animal diets and other strategies that support more efficient animal growth. Each credit represents one tonne of emission reductions that can be sold to facilities using them to meet emissions reductions obligations, or to other businesses to meet their low-carbon economy commitments.
The REME protocol has been developed with input from technical experts in the agricultural sector, and is one of a number of measures Canada’s government is taking to help decarbonise the agricultural sector.
In November, the government announced its CAN$12 million Agricultural Methane Reduction Challenge, with a call for applications to accelerate the suite of sustainable innovations ‘to address methane emissions head-on’. Prizes range from CAN$250,000 to CAN$1 million. The application deadline is 7 February 2024.
The government added that it is seeking input from stakeholders on the draft REME protocol and interested parties are invited to submit comments to creditscompensatoires-offsets@ec.gc.ca by 6 February 2024. The final protocol is expected to be published in the summer of 2024.
The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change said: ‘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. This is an opportunity for farmers to implement practical solutions to reduce agricultural methane emissions, generate revenue and harvest a greener future for all.’
In recent years, tackling methane from cattle has led to the development of an additive for cattle feed called Bovaer, by Royal DSM, which toward the end of 2021 received a positive opinion from the European Food Safety Authority for use in feed additives for ruminants in the European Union.
In a separate development a number of new actions and grant funding was announced at the COP28 Global Methane Pledge Ministerial. Formally announced at COP26, more than $1 billion in grant funding has now been announced under the GMP, and 155 governments are now signed up to the initiative. The GMP sets out to reduce methane emissions from 2020 levels by 30% by 2030.
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