Belching and farting cows may be the future
15 July 2026
Seadra Energy senior vice president Noor Begum says electric vehicles will carry most of the burden, but challenging transport modes will need drop-in biofuels for decades.
The belching and farting of New Zealand’s cows and sheep contributes to greenhouse gas emissions – but their faeces could now help solve the problem. Firms overseas have already patented processes to convert excrement from lactating dairy cattle to a combination of ethanol, methane and fertiliser. California-based startup Circularity Fuels has completed the world’s first end-to-end conversion of raw cow manure biogas into sustainable aviation fuel. The demonstration was carried out at a dairy farm near Madera, California, which houses more than 5000 cattle and generates biogas through manure digesters. The challenge for New Zealand will be to collect the cow pats, given most of our cattle graze outside in paddocks rather than living indoors in sheds!