M&S To Waste £1m on Flatulent Cows

By Paul Homewood

Guest Post by Ian Magness:

Marks & Spencer is spending £1m to cut the harmful gases in its dairy cows’ belches and flatulence as part of a net zero push.

M&S said it would change what it feeds cows in its supply chain in an effort to cut around 11,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

Changing the cows’ diets could reduce the carbon footprint of its fresh milk by 8.4pc, the retailer said.

M&S will work with the 40 dairy farmers in its “milk pool” to bring the scheme to fruition.
Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases and has been blamed for warming the planet.

Agriculture contributes 40pc of the world’s methane emissions, according to the International Energy Agency. Cows are a major source of the gas, which is produced during their digestion and released through wind.

Britain has pledged to reduce its methane emissions by at least 30pc by 2030 as part of national net zero plans and plans to make farmers across the country give methane-suppressing feed to cows.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/04/09/marks-and-spencer-cows-flatulence-net-zero-push/

Hmm, so we are told that £1m (it’s not said but let’s assume all figures are per annum) on fart/burp reduction saves 11,000 tonnes of methane emissions.

Now, we know from previous maths (see previous article with section copied below) that a million tons of CO2 avoided reduces global average temperate by a whopping 0.00000087C.

According to many sites (eg iea.org or climate change connection.org), the methane warming (GWP) equivalent is 28 – 36 times that of CO2 on a 100 year basis. Let’s say 32 times for the sake of a calculation.

So, avoiding a million tonnes of CH4, would reduce global average temperature by 0.00002784C. However, M&S claim that its cunning plan will save a huge 11,000 tonnes of CH4. So, its plan would save 0.00002784 x 11/1,000 = 0.00000031C.

Wow! I’m so excited!

Further, using a rough guide that an average change of 1C exists per 400 miles (= 704,000 yards) of latitude, this is the equivalent of moving each dairy farm some 0.2yards (or 8 inches) northwards.

Imagine 100 countries adopted this scheme – whoopee!

Might as well allow the hedgerows to grow 8 inches northwards – cost £0 minus less carbon emissions from hedge-cutting.

Oh, and, by the way, if cows didn’t eat that grass, it would just rot down and produce GHGs in the form of CO2. Add those “carbon emissions” to those produced by the alternative food on consumption and it isn’t clear there is any worthwhile gain

Oh, and, by the way, new foods have to be manufactured and delivered to farms nation-wide thereby producing a whole new set of carbon emissions.

This all makes so much sense doesn’t it? Well done M&S!

Or as one DT commentator put it: