Mitigating Enteric Methane Emissions: An Analysis of Emerging Media Frames and Consumer Narrative Tensions on Natural Solutions and Techno-Fixes

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Reducing enteric methane production from ruminant livestock has been positioned as a key intervention to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Bovaer©, a feed additive purported to reduce enteric methane emissions in dairy cows by nearly a third, has received regulatory authorization in many countries. However, there is a dearth of evidence on the consumer’s response to the use of such products. In the three weeks after 27 November 2024, there was a significant increase in media communications associated with the use of Bovaer© in Europe, and especially the United Kingdom (UK). This structured review of academic and gray literature and an iterative non-systematic survey of media discourse online explored and characterized the narratives that emerged in this three-week period of intense activity in both social media and mainstream media communications in order to critique the narratives and grammars within the public response and the implications for policymakers, industry and academia. The main narrative that emerged reflected the science-consumer tensions associated with the use of Bovaer© and the four sub-narratives shaping it (mainstream media influence and narrative framing, distrust in science and lack of relatability, conspiracy theories and fear-based narratives, consumer buycotts and market responses). Organizations adopting technological solutions to address ‘wicked’ societal problems need to understand the factors that trigger, amplify and attenuate social concern as expressed in mainstream and social media and need to adopt appropriate communication and dissemination activities to reduce the circulation of mis-dis-mal-information and promote information that is appropriate for multiple audiences and levels of understanding.