Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) faculty start-up Melience (CEO: Professor Lee Hak-kyo, Department of Animal Biotechnology) developed the world’s first system to track and predict cattle carbon footprints using genomic big data and launched 'RokaCow', a low-carbon certified Hanwoo.

Approximately 1.5 billion cattle are raised worldwide, emitting greenhouse gases that account for 12% of the global total of 50 billion tons, in part due to fossil fuel use. In Korea, greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock sector increased from 5.8 million tons in 1990 to 9.4 million tons in 2018. As a result, calls for carbon neutrality in livestock production are growing domestically and internationally.

According to the FAO's latest published standard (2017), the carbon footprint of beef is 25.5 kg (CO2 equivalent) per 1 kg produced. The newly released 'RokaCow' emits 8.9 kg, representing a carbon footprint at 35% or below the global average, classifying it as a low-carbon Hanwoo.

JBNU researchers used a genetic breeding-based low-carbon beef tracking platform to predict low-carbon beef at the calf stage, and tracked and verified it through traceability records. They predicted and managed carbon footprints using genomic data accumulated over the past decade from dams and calves.

The beef maintains robustness and attains higher weight within the same rearing period, resulting in reduced carbon emissions at slaughter. Compared with the world average, carbon emissions are reduced by 16.6 kg, which is equivalent to planting three 30-year-old pine trees.

The JBNU livestock carbon-neutrality research team led by Professor Lee Hak-kyo founded the company to disseminate and commercialize the 10 years of research results of the Animal Molecular Genetics and Breeding Project Group under the Rural Development Administration's Next-Generation BioGreen21 Program. They have also established a legal entity in the United States and completed preparations for global business expansion.

Salim Dada, CEO of Concord Ventures, a U.S. firm with a 70-year history participating in the project, said, "With global interest in livestock carbon neutrality rising, including in the United States, a corporate valuation specialist reported that the technology and brand have a value on the order of about 2 trillion won. If close business ties with Korea follow, we expect this to make a positive and active contribution to global livestock carbon neutrality."

Through the beef carbon-tracking system, a livestock carbon-neutrality project that consolidates ten years of research results, this is the first time domestically and worldwide that individual carbon footprints can be known, enabling distinction of low-carbon beef and confirmation of carbon reduction amounts. More significantly, confirming genetic information at the calf stage allows selection of superior breeding stock and the transmission of genetic traits to subsequent generations through rearing and breeding. This enables low-carbon, customized breeding and husbandry and provides a sustainable way to reduce carbon footprints.

The project group that served as the foundation for this business published over 500 papers in journals including Nature over the past decade. The low-carbon livestock verification technologies and know-how developed on this basis have been filed for patents domestically and internationally, including in the United States.

Professor Lee Hak-kyo, CEO of Melience, stated, "We will not remain confined to research. Through global industrialization, we plan to grow into a research-based global operator of a livestock carbon-neutrality convergence platform and strive to contribute to human society."