Gas giants: Can we stop cows from emitting so much methane?

Not so innocent: Cows are major emmiters of methane, which contributes to runaway climate change

That cow may look peaceful and harmless, munching on some grass in a verdant pasture. 

But don't be fooled -- it is emitting methane, a particularly potent greenhouse gas contributing to runaway global climate change.

Methane is around 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas over a 100-year period, but it stays in the atmosphere for only 12 years compared to centuries.

Agriculture and livestock farming generate around 40 percent of the methane related to human activities, the rest produced by the fossil fuel industry.

Around 95 percent of the methane produced by cows come from their mouths or nostrils.

- Cows with masks -

The device filters the methane, transforming it into carbon dioxide, which per molecule has a much less potent effect on global warming.

"Methane emissions have been reduced by half," he told AFP.

In the short term, Cargill is starting to market in northern Europe a calcium nitrate food additive, saying that 200 grammes daily would reduce cow methane emissions by 10 percent.

- Seaweed to the rescue? - 

If the results can be repeated, red seaweed would need to grown in vast quantities, preferably near farming areas, the researchers at University of California Davis said.

It is also uncertain how consumers will respond. For example, will Americans who prefer corn-fed beef be as partial to the seaweed-fed variety?

A report by the United Nations Environment Programme in May pointed out that technological measures have a "limited potential to address" methane emissions from the agriculture sector.

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