[imagesource: Needpix]

There has been a lot of hot air about the environmental impact of cow farts, but it seems the poor bovines are a cause for concern at both ends.

Methane emissions due to cow burps have now proven to be as bad for the environment as their poep.

Cows, goats and deer release methane gas as their stomachs digests hard fibres such as grass, with methane considered to be the most common greenhouse gas after Carbon Dioxide.

Luckily for dairy and meat consumers, billionaire Bill Gates has now entered the fray by recently investing in an Australian startup that hopes to reduce methane emissions by feeding cows seaweed.

Australian start-up Rumin8 has been working on a dietary supplement made from synthetically replicated red seaweed, which when fed to the cows stops the creation of gas in the intestines. The company recently announced a $12 million funding plan through Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which Gates founded in 2015.

Along for the ride are phallic rocketeer and fellow billionaire, Jeff Bezos, as well as Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, who have both been backers of Breakthrough Energy Ventures in the past.

“There is a genuine desire to fund solutions to enteric methane emissions from livestock and fortunately for Rumin8, they can see the benefits of our technology,”

New Zealand recently proposed new carbon taxes on emissions from farm animals in an attempt to reduce the environmental damage caused by their farts and burps. The step will see farmers paying for agricultural emissions from their industry, which is responsible for half of the greenhouse gasses emitted from the island nation.

In 2019, methane in the atmosphere reached record levels, around two-and-a-half times above what they were in the pre-industrial era. What worries scientists is that methane has real muscle when it comes to heating the planet.