A team of Australian research scientists has discovered determining a sheep’s methane production is as easy and inexpensive as reading a wool sample.

A chance encounter at an agricultural conference connected the CSIRO researchers with sustainable fashion brand M.J. Bale, which was in need of a tool to prove its sustainability credentials.

Intense discussions within the group led to the discovery that the carbon isotope signatures preserved in wool – and other animal products such as milk – could reveal how much methane was emitted by the animal, offering a low-cost alternative to expensive on-farm measurement tools.

A provisional patent followed within a week of the discovery, and controlled trials have since supported the concept.

M.J. Bale head of brand Jonathan Lobban said the fashion industry was on a journey of de-carbonisation, and the science to support it had never mattered more.

“Companies and industries need verified evidence, and I think that’s going to become non-negotiable,” he said.

“Gen Z is a label turner.

“They care about provenance, they care about origin, and sooner rather than later, if you bring a product to market, you’ll have to prove by fact that the harm of making it has been minimised.”

M.J. Bale completed carbon accounting of its flagship Kingston suit, a single-origin, low-carbon Merino wool in 2022.

It found more than half of the carbon footprint came not from spinning or shipping or stitching, but from methane.

“We’d gone in thinking Kingston wool would be looking pretty good – it’s a natural fibre; Kingston is a carbon-positive farm,” Mr Lobban said.

“But our carbon footprint analysis showed that 52 per cent of all emissions from a Kingston suit came from methane.

“That changed everything.”

Current methane measuring methods mean installing a specialised treat-dispenser that measures belches and sends the data to the cloud.

This infrastructure is not only expensive but requires internet connectivity that is often lacking in regional areas.

Research scientist and isotope geochemist Dr Cesca McInerney made the discovery that methane emissions could be measured from wool rather than measuring the belches directly.

“It’s a more integrated, long-term measure, and it doesn’t require any technology at the time the belches are occurring,” she said.

Animal breeding expert scientist Dr Sonja Dominik also found an additional use for the test.

She said the same test could help identify and breed from animals that naturally emitted less methane.

“The application of geochemistry to livestock provides the pathway to come up with something that actually meets the pain points industry is experiencing right now,” she said.

A CSIRO spokeswoman said the team was seeking industry partners to help conduct larger-scale trials and bring the isotope verification method to the market.