From Methane to Management: Innovative Approaches to Climate Mitigation and Decision-making

On Friday, February 14, the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society hosted its monthly Faculty Research Seminar, featuring Professors George O'Toole from the Geisel School of Medicine and Klaus Keller from the Thayer School of Engineering. The professors discussed innovative strategies to mitigate and manage the impacts of climate change.

Professor O'Toole commenced the seminar by presenting his research on two distinct strategies for climate mitigation.

The first focused on reducing methane emissions from cattle, while the second explored enhancing the marine biological pump to maximize carbon sequestration.

Cows, as ruminant animals, produce significant amounts of methane through a process known as enteric fermentation. Methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas contributing to climate change, trailing only behind carbon dioxide. Although it is present in smaller atmospheric concentrations, methane has a global warming potential that is 28 times greater than that of carbon dioxide over a 100-year period.

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One promising avenue of research involves the introduction of the probiotic Prevotella into the cows' diet to alter microbial processes in the rumen. By incorporating Prevotella, this organism can shift the metabolic fate of hydrogen and reduce methane production, while simultaneously increasing the production of short-chain fatty acids, particularly propionate.

Day and O'Toole are isolating Prevotella strains from the rumen that maximize propionate production and also resilient to chemicals designed to lower methane emissions. Another key part of the project is developing genetic tools to study these metabolic processes in Prevotella.

The successful implementation of this project holds promise for substantially reducing methane emissions from cattle.

In the second part of the seminar, Professor O'Toole delved into the role of microbes in the marine biological pump, a process essential for climate regulation that sequesters carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the deep ocean. This project is being performed in close collaboration with Professor Mukul Sharma in EARS, and co-sponsored by the Dept of Microbiology and Immunology and the Irving Institute.

Phytoplankton, a key type of marine microbe, initiates this vital process through photosynthesis, converting sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide into organic compounds. Remarkably, this process sequesters between 80 and 146 petagrams (Pg, or a billion metric tons) of atmospheric CO₂ annually. However, over 90% of this captured carbon is released back into the atmosphere due to oxidation processes carried out by marine organisms.

O'Toole and his team are investigating mutant strains of these microbes that do not enhance carbon sequestration. By understanding the mechanisms at play in these mutants, they aim to uncover how typical microbes effectively facilitate carbon capture. This foundational research sets the stage for future studies aimed at optimizing the marine biological pump and further bolstering marine carbon sequestration efforts.

Next, Professor Keller presented "Beyond the Loading Dock: Approaches to Co-Producing Knowledge to Inform Climate Risk Management."

Albert Einstein famously stated, "If I had an hour to solve a problem, I'd spend 55 mintues thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions." Keller's team demonstrated this wisdom in their presentation, which prioritized elucidating deep uncertainties and stakeholders' needs to co-create more cost-effective climate-mitigation solutions.

Watch both presentations!