$9.9m methane vaccine investment
A JOINT venture working to reduce onfarm emissions is doubling down on efforts to create a methane vaccine.
AgriZeroNZ — which is owned by the government and key players in the primary industries — is investing $9.9 million in US company ArkeaBio, which is working to create a methane vaccine for ruminant animals. It comes on top of investment into research being done in New Zealand to create a vaccine. AgriZeroNZ chief executive Wayne McNee said the company was backing the US research to increase the chance of delivering the highly soughtafter, worldfirst solution.
‘‘A methane vaccine for ruminant animals is internationally recognised as the ‘holy grail’ to deliver methane reduction at low cost and mass scale.
‘‘It could be one of the best longterm options to really shift the dial on agricultural emissions in New Zealand without compromising farm profitability, as well as a powerful tool globally.’’
ArkeaBio is led by Kiwi expat
Colin South and recently completed $US26.5 million ($NZ44m) Series A venture financing to develop and trial the vaccine.
Dr South said ArkeaBio was pleased to have AgriZeroNZ join the funding round.
‘‘A vaccine is the lowestcost path to global scale enteric methane reduction and is applicable to cattle worldwide. This singular solution, distributed globally with largescale adoption, can change the trajectory of global warming and demonstrate a path to meeting major climate mitigation goals.’’ — RNZ