Methane pledge’s effect on cattle sector uncertain

Canada has committed to reduce methane emissions by 30 percent, but it’s unclear if the country’s cattle sector will have to meet that target.

Last week Jonathan Wilkinson, minister of the environment and climate change, announced Canada’s support for the Global Methane Pledge, which aims to reduce global methane emissions by 30 percent below 2020 levels by 2030.

Methane represents about 13 percent of Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions, much smaller than carbon dioxide, which is 80 percent.

But methane breaks down in the atmosphere more quickly than CO2. Carbon dioxide can remain in the atmosphere for hundreds of years, but methane has a half-life of only nine years and that’s why policy makers are focusing on methane reductions.

“Because methane is both a powerful greenhouse gas and short-lived compared to carbon dioxide, achieving significant reductions would have a rapid and significant effect on atmospheric warming potential,” the United States Environmental Protection Agency says.

In Canada, the largest sources of methane emissions are oil and gas extraction, industrial processes, electricity generation and livestock production, says the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

“In Alberta, the natural gas industry is the largest source of methane emissions. About half comes from direct venting or venting from equipment and half comes from unintended releases of fugitive emissions.”

Across Canada, cattle are a significant producer of methane, which is a byproduct of cattle digesting their feed.

The country’s beef industry produces about 23.4 million tonnes of greenhouse gases, or 2.4 percent of Canada’s total emissions, the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association says on its website. Methane represents most of the greenhouse gas emissions from Canada’s beef sector and about 35 to 40 percent of all the emissions in Canadian agriculture.

There are ways to reduce methane emissions from cattle, but the government may not expect the beef and dairy industry to cut methane by 30 percent over the next nine years.

“I don’t know the exact numbers…. But that’s a 30 percent overall reduction. That would include emissions from the fossil-fuel sector, as well,” said Tim McAllister, an Agriculture Canada scientist in Lethbridge who specializes in ruminant nutrition and microbiology.

It might be simpler to reduce emissions from the natural gas and petroleum sector, so the government might focus its efforts in that direction.

“If it’s a matter of making sure you don’t have leaky valves in pipelines and things like that, it’s a lot easier to mitigate… than in a complex system like cattle,” McAllister said.

CAPP says there are options to cut methane emissions from the petroleum industry:

• installing systems at natural gas facilities designed to capture vented gases, including methane
• new software systems that track emissions at each location to help identify and cut methane emissions

In the cattle and livestock sector, one big opportunity for cutting emissions is a feed additive called 3-nitrooxypropanol, or 3-NOP.

A Dutch company, DSM Nutritional Products, has developed the feed additive and it claims it can cut methane emissions by 30 percent in dairy cows and higher percentages in beef cattle.

In September, Brazil and Chile granted regulatory approval for the technology. But regulatory approval in Canada could be years away.

“I’m not sure they’re even pursuing registration in Canada, yet,” McAllister said.