We're a science-driven non-profit accelerating progress in emerging, high-impact climate fields, currently focused on livestock methane mitigation, methane removal research, natural feedback risks, and agricultural nitrogen management.
Our current programs focus on emerging, neglected fields with mid-term, large-scale mitigation potential to slow warming and bend the temperature curve. We plan to add more high-potential mitigation and adaptation fields over time.
The challenge: Methane emissions from the digestive system of ruminant livestock — known as "enteric fermentation," a.k.a. "cow burps" — are contributing 3 GT CO₂e/yr GWP100 (9 GT CO₂e/yr GWP20) to climate change. This accounts for 25% of all anthropogenic methane emissions, and is the largest anthropogenic methane source for which there aren't yet broadly-applicable technical solutions (and likely one of the fastest growing sources). These ongoing emissions currently cause 0.1°C of warming, and are on an upward trajectory, expected to be contributing 0.25°C of warming in 2100. Currently available solutions only cover less than about 10% of the global challenge, while major questions about market demand remain unresolved, stymying investment.
Our work: The Spark Livestock Enteric Methane Mitigation Program accelerates progress towards reducing emissions from livestock enteric methane by providing strategic support and leadership across the field to accelerate the growth of the overall field. We need innovation and a market for solutions that also address pasture-based animals, and there's exciting innovation here, from vaccine development to low-methane breeding and other approaches. The program coordinates policy efforts, supports innovation, and is working to develop the value chain and grow and coordinate the overall field.
The challenge: Atmospheric methane levels are currently contributing 0.5°C of warming, and are quickly growing. Methane-emitting climate feedbacks—primarily from permafrost thaw and tropical wetlands—could elevate methane emissions another ~160 MT methane/yr (4.7 Gt CO2e/yr, 13.5 Gt CO2e/yr GWP20) even under moderate emission scenarios,* but aren't yet even included in most climate models or in climate policies. Natural sinks already remove ~0.6 Gt of methane per year from the atmosphere (18 GT CO₂e/yr GWP100, 48 GT CO₂e/yr GWP20), but very little research has yet gone into how this sinks might be safely enhanced or mimicked, a new field called methane removal. A recent NASEM report calls for $50-80M/yr in methane removal research funding, a total of less than $10M has gone into the field so far (almost entirely through Spark).
Our work: Spark’s Methane Removal Program accelerates the scientific exploration of potential methane removal approaches to counter the risk of rising methane emissions from climate feedbacks, while supporting the advancement of related policy, governance, and community engagement. Our current priorities are supporting the growth of a robust, independent research community towards determination of whether safe, effective, and scalable approaches exist, and advancing legal and governance frameworks, non-profit engagement, and communications. Spark is building the scientific field, engaging federal agencies, advocating for public research funding, and more.
* Under RCP4.5 models, or a roughly 2.4°C-by-2100 trajectory
We're always scouting new areas that could hold tremendous climate-risk-mitigation potential, but that are in need of dramatically more philanthropic support, and might benefit from a Spark-shaped program.
Agricultural nitrous oxide emissions are currently 1.6 Gt CO2e annually and growing. Nitrogen use efficiency of the food production system (including both crops and animal products) is roughly 15%, resulting in significant amounts of nitrogen leaching into our water, atmosphere, and environment, causing a number of environmental and climate damages. Additional mitigation approaches are needed to dramatically and durably lower nitrogen losses to the environment, including nitrous oxide emissions. Learn More →
As climate change worsens, the natural system response is also altered, in many cases amplifying warming. One subset of this challenge is rising methane emissions from natural systems: as permafrost thaws and tropical wetlands get warmer and wetter, methane emissions from these systems could increase up to an additional 4 Gt CO2e GWP100 (12 Gt CO2e GWP20) annually by 2100. Much more work is needed to better understand these risks, and include them in our climate models and in the “carbon budgets” used as the basis of emissions reduction goals Learn More →
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Spark programs are the engines that build and coordinate fields to accelerate progress, including additional climate solutions, which involves:
This is achieved through a combination of our own programs, targeted regranting to other organizations, direct funding of research, and initiating new projects, initiatives, and organizations providing important capacity or infrastructure for the field.
Spark is a non-profit accelerating progress in emerging, high-impact climate fields. The Spark team works directly with scientists, policymakers, and peer organizations, to support the growth of emerging mitigation and adaptation fields with the potential to limit warming, monitor and manage Earth systems risk, and help enable our return to a safe climate. Spark’s first programs focus on large, under-addressed methane-related areas that currently represent unmanaged risks to our overall climate trajectory, including work on enteric methane mitigation, methane removal research, natural systems feedbacks, nitrogen loss reduction, and additional innovation areas to assist efforts to mitigate climate super pollutants.Spark’s work is made possible through support from the Grantham Foundation, Quadrature Climate Foundation, Spitzer Charitable Trust, Astera Fund, Additional Ventures, and additional generous and pioneering funders.
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