Stage 3: Validation and Demonstration Round 2

The Methane Emissions Reduction in Livestock (MERiL) program contributes to the Australian Government’s commitment of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 43% below 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero by 2050. The program also supports the Global Methane Pledge, which is a voluntary commitment to reduce global methane emissions across all sectors by 30% below 2020 levels by 2030. This grant aims to support the development and commercial readiness of solutions to deliver methane-inhibiting livestock feed-supplements to grazing animals at large-scale (beef and dairy cattle, and sheep) and other solutions to reduce methane emissions from grazing animals.

MERiL Program Eligibility Overview

Organisations incorporated in Australia must satisfy all eligibility criteria, namely declaring you will have access to appropriate volumes of the material for methane-reducing solutions to undertake the project activities and that your proposed solution is at TRL 4, 5, 6 or 7. Funding will be provided for projects that:

• Involve large-scale trials to deliver methane-reducing solutions to grazing animals under Australian operational environments,
• Develop a commercialisation plan for how the methane-reducing solution would be scaled up and brought to market.
• Publish (or have submitted for publishing) outcomes of validation and demonstration activities in a peer-reviewed publication.
• Have at least $1,250,000 in eligible expenditure.

If you are successful, it is expected that your project will commence in July 2024. Projects must be completed by 31 March 2027.

Key Dates

The round opened on Wednesday 7 February 2024 and closes Wednesday 20 March 2024 5:00pm AEDT.

Funding Overview

Grant funding ranges from $1,000,000 – $3,000,000 with the grant amount covering up to 80% of eligible expenditure. Recipients are responsible for co-contributing the remaining eligible and ineligible project costs.

No more than 80% of total eligible project expenditure can be funded from Commonwealth government grants.

Assessment Criteria for the MERiL program

Applications will be assessed against the following criteria by a committee comprised of Australian government officials and independent experts:

• Assessment criterion 1: Feasibility of your methane-reducing solutions for grazing animals (beef and dairy cattle, and sheep) (30 points)
• Assessment criterion 2: Market opportunity of your solution (30 points)
• Assessment criterion 3: Capacity, capability, and resources to deliver the project (30 points)
• Assessment criterion 4: Impact of grant funding (10 points).

You must score at least 50% against each assessment criterion to be considered for a grant. The amount of detail and supporting evidence you provide should be relative to the project size, complexity and grant amount requested.

Application Process

To apply for the Methane Emissions Reduction in Livestock grant, applicants register a Business.gov portal account. You can only submit an application between the published opening and closing dates. Assessment and approval of applications is expected to take 8-12 weeks.

Further Information and Support

For comprehensive details, eligibility requisites, and guidance on the grant application process, we invite prospective applicants to get in touch with our experienced Gild R&D Incentives & Grants team here.