September 6, 2023

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Climate tech company CH4 Global has closed on a $29 million Series B, bringing total funding to-date to nearly $47 million in support of their mission to radically reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in animal agriculture. 

The company explained that this funding was led by DCVC, DCVC Bio, and Cleveland Avenue, and included participation from additional unnamed investors with a strong interest in climate change mitigation, underscoring the market demand for safe and viable solutions to reduce methane emissions from ruminant livestock. 

CH4’s flagship product is Methane Tamer™ – a product that when added to cattle feed, uses Asparagopsis, a variety of red seaweed, that reduces animals’ methane emissions by up to 90 percent while also reducing the feed energy lost to methane emissions. And with this fresh funding, the company stated it plans to build and validate its CH4 Global EcoPark, an aquaculture and production facility able to make Methane Tamer at scale. 

“We are receiving massive interest from governments, food producers and farmers of all sizes, fueling our sense of urgency that we must act now to avoid a climate tipping point,” said Steve Meller, PhD, co-founder and CEO, CH4 Global. The pressure is on with new regulations and the desire to produce at a measurably lower impact.”

“What we’ve developed at CH4 Global is what we call a CH4 Global EcoPark, which enables low-cost growth and processing of Asparagopsis. We are formulating our unique feed supplement products, Methane Tamer, to meet the specific needs of each cattle market segment, starting with feedlot operations, beef and dairy, as well as for grazing dairies. Eventually, we will also formulate for remote and generally unattended cattle around the world.”

An assessment released in 2021 by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition determined that reducing farming-generated methane levels is of high priority for fighting climate change. 

Livestock emissions from both gastrointestinal release and manure account for about 32 percent of all methane emissions caused by human activity, such as farming. But why is methane so harmful? The aforementioned report explains that methane is the primary cause of the formation of ground-level ozone – a dangerous pollutant and greenhouse gas responsible for 1 million premature deaths each year. Furthermore, as a greenhouse gas, methane is 80 times more potent at causing global warming compared to CO2, over a 20-year period. 

CH4 noted that the 1.5 billion cows on the planet are the single largest source of methane globally, producing more than 150 tons of methane per year – representing a larger GHG output than from the U.S., the EU, and India combined. 

“CH4 Global’s secret sauce is its product, plain and simple: the feed additive it has expertly formulated stands apart from other seaweed-based offerings,” said John Hamer PhD, managing partner, DCVC Bio and a member of the CH4 Global board of directors. “DCVC Bio is thrilled to back Steve and his exceptional team: they are ready to scale up a critical solution to climate change.”

Following the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) May 2021 report which stated,  “methane is the single biggest lever for climate change impact in the next 25 years,” more than 150 countries have signed the Global Methane Pledge, a pact which aims to reduce methane emissions by 30 percent. However, the IPCC concluded that methane emissions must be reduced by 45 percent by 2030 relative to projected levels in order for the world to meet the 1.5 degree Celsius target of the Paris Agreement. 

Zachary Bogue, co-founder and managing partner, DCVC noted, “CH4 is exactly the kind of deep tech company the world urgently needs. Their natural and proprietary solution to the vexing global problem of methane from cattle can have a material environmental impact quickly and at scale.”

 ~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

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