Volta Greentech’s seaweed reduces methane from cows by over 80 percent, commercial pilot shows

Volta Greentech’s seaweed-based feed supplement

Swedish startup Volta Greentech showed in a pilot at a commercial beef farm that methane emissions burped out by the animals were reduced by on average 81 percent when fed the company’s seaweed-based feed supplement. This is an important milestone for Volta Greentech whose vision is to battle global warming by drastically reducing methane emissions from cattle.

In the pilot at the farm “Tre Bönder’’ outside Eskilstuna in Sweden, 17 animals were fed the seaweed-based feed supplement as part of their diet to reduce methane production. The pilot is described in the company’s new climate report.

The seaweed comes from Volta Greentech’s land-based pilot factory in Lysekil on the Swedish west coast, designed to be replicated at scale and laying the technical foundation for coming factories. The feed supplement is grown sustainably using renewable energy and waste heat from another nearby factory.

“The 1.5 billion cows on the planet produce 5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, twice the amount of the world’s airplanes. We have now shown that our seaweed has the potential to reduce a large part of those emissions. The market potential and the impact we can achieve with this solution is huge,” says Volta Greentech CEO and co-founder Fredrik Åkerman.

The greenhouse gas methane is 28 times more potent than CO2 at a 100-year time horizon. At COP26, more than 100 countries signed the Global Methane Pledge to reduce 30 percent of methane emissions by 2030. For many countries, reducing emissions from cattle may hold the greatest potential to reach that target.

Next year, Volta Greentech is planning to build its first large-scale seaweed factory — Volta Factory 02 — with a planned production of 50 tonnes of the feed supplement per year. Further capital will be raised during the year for building the next factory as well as for research and development.

Investors in earlier funding rounds include Northvolt founder and CEO Peter Carlsson and one of Volta’s customers in the food retail sector.

Volta Greentech’s Climate Report: Link

Press photos and logos are available at www.voltagreentech.com/press

About Volta Greentech

5 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come from one single source: methane from cows’ burps and farts. Volta Greentech has developed a feed supplement — Volta Seafeed — with the potential to reduce up to 90 percent of these emissions. Volta Greentech’s pioneering land-based technique for producing the feed supplement ensures consistent harvest and quality over time, regardless of surrounding environmental factors and seasonality. The company’s next factory Volta Factory 02 is set to be the world’s largest red seaweed factory. Meanwhile, in the company’s laboratory at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, the cultivation recipe for improving the seaweed’s methane reducing abilities are under development, as are the engineering blueprint enabling large scale production. The growing Volta Greentech team consists of engineers and biologists from six nationalities who share a commitment and passion for using their skills to bring climate innovations to the market at scale and create real measurable impact. Read more at voltagreentech.com.

For further information and interview requests, please contact Daniel Dickson at press@voltagreentech.com / +46 (0)707 21 11 63.