New Zealand will in 2025 become the first country to tax methane emissions from burping cows and sheep.
The move is part of a wider mission to tax agricultural emissions, which account for around half of the country's greenhouse gas emissions.
Prime Minister Jacinda Arden confirmed at a press conference on Tuesday that her government will push ahead with a proposal to make farmers pay for their livestock’s emissions in a bid to combat climate change.
“This is an important step forward in New Zealand’s transition to a low emissions future and delivers on our promise to price agriculture emissions from 2025,” Ardern said.
Ahead of that, farmers, businesses and scientists are working on ways to cut emissions without reducing herd number, given agricultural products make up more than 75 per cent of the country's goods exports.
More than a dozen calves wait at a research farm in New Zealand to be fed Kowbucha, a punnily named probiotic that studies show reduces burps -- or methane emissions.
The "true eureka moment" came when early trials suggested that calves emit up to 20pc less methane when they receive the probiotic supplement.
"Probiotics are great because they're a really natural solution," said Shalome Bassett, principal scientist at Fonterra Research and Development Centre.
"Whatever we do, it has to be something that's easy for the farmer to use, has to be cost effective, and we have to ensure that it's good for the cow and doesn't have any effect on the milk."
Ongoing trials have shown similar, promising results, she said. If that continues, Fonterra hopes to have Kowbucha sachets in stores by the end of 2024, before farmers have to start paying for animal burps.
New Zealand has pledged to cut biogenic methane emissions by 10pc on 2017 levels by 2030 and by up to 47pc by 2050.
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