Cambridge, England — Scientists have long said cutting methane emissions is key to addressing climate change, but many big industries aren’t readily able to curb their production of the harmful greenhouse gas. A British company says it has an answer: Turn methane into something else. 

Methane is a menace. Climate scientists say the invisible gas warms the Earth’s atmosphere 84 times faster than carbon dioxide. It’s released into the atmosphere by organic material, such as food waste, rotting at landfill sites, sewage treatment facilities and by the digestive systems of cows. 

Levidian — a climate tech business in Cambridge, England — set out to tackle this climate change challenge, by giving methane a makeover.

“The magic happens in here,” the company’s CEO John Hartley told CBS News as he led our team on a guided tour of Levidian’s patented LOOP system — a machine with a giant metal hopper shaped like a balloon.

The technology uses microwave energy and a special nozzle system to split methane molecules into the gas’ component parts — hydrogen and carbon — and captures them.

Hydrogen is increasingly sought after, as it can be used to power factories, trucks, ships and other machinery. Levidian said it’s a clean fuel, because, when burned, it yields heat and energy, but the only emission is water vapor, no carbon dioxide. 

The carbon from the broken-down methane, meanwhile, falls into the hopper as a solid called graphene, which has been known to science for only about two decades and which is often touted as the strongest material in the world.  

Dr. Ellie Galanis, head of commercial development at Levidian, was keen to show off a harvest of graphene from the LOOP hopper at the company’s lab.

“It’s such an exciting time to be involved in graphene,” said the self-described “graphene geek,” shaking a cube filled with black, powder-like material. “It’s awesome.”

Galanis and her team have been busy working on ways to use the graphene Levidian produces to boost the durability of everyday products.

“When you put graphene into the tire tread, you can make it stronger. You can make it last longer and you can make it more fuel efficient,” she said of one application.

They have also tried adding it to concrete. 

“Without graphene, it tends to crumble a lot easier, but with graphene it’s much stronger,” she said.

The super-strong but flexible material can even be included in the manufacture of medical gloves.

“When surgeons do the ‘snap test,’ they’re trying to check if it will break, and that doesn’t happen when you add graphene in — it makes them much stronger and more puncture resistant,” she told CBS News.

Scientists say graphene also helps boost battery life in electric vehicles, and it can be mixed into plastic to help manufactures use less petroleum-derived materials in their bottles.

Researchers only discovered graphene 20 years ago, at the University of Manchester, and Levidian sees years of growth ahead for the product.

“When you get in your car, you will have graphene enhanced tires that last longer. The battery in that car, if it’s electric, will take you further because it will have more capacity to charge faster, and the concrete you use in the building you go into will be more durable and have a smaller carbon footprint,” she predicted, adding that even “the clothes that you wear might have graphene in them so they’re more sustainable.”

Levidian says its LOOP system has now reached the U.S., with Georgia-based cable maker Southwire using it to reduce its carbon footprint.

Cummins Inc. has agreed to pay an over $1.67 billion penalty to settle claims by regulators that the engine manufacturer unlawfully altered hundreds of thousands of pickup truck engines to bypass emissions tests.

According to the U.S. Justice Department, which announced the agreement in principle Thursday, Cummins’ alleged actions violated the Clear Air Act — a federal law that requires car and engine manufacturers to comply with emission limits.

The $1.675 billion fine would be the largest civil penalty the Justice Department has secured under the Clear Air Act to date and second largest environmental penalty ever secured.

The Justice Department accuses Cummins of installing defeat devices —d which can bypass or defeat emissions controls — on 630,000 2013-2019 Ram 2500 and 3500 pickup truck engines, as well as undisclosed auxiliary emission control devices on 330,000 2019-2023 Ram 2500 and 3500 pickup truck engines.

“The types of devices we allege that Cummins installed in its engines to cheat federal environmental laws have a significant and harmful impact on people’s health and safety,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a prepared statement. “Our preliminary estimates suggest that defeat devices on some Cummins engines have caused them to produce thousands of tons of excess emissions of nitrogen oxides.”

Garland pointed to the “cascading effect” of these pollutants, notably breathing issues and respiratory infections that can arise with long-term exposure.

In a Friday release about the agreement, Cummins said it does not admit any wrongdoing, noting the company “has seen no evidence that anyone acted in bad faith.”

Cummins added that it “cooperated fully” with regulators. The company also pointed to actions dating back to 2019, including a previous recall of 2019 Ram 2500 and 3500 trucks and a now-initiated recall of 2013-2018 Ram 2500 and 3500 trucks.

Cummins said it previously accrued $59 million in estimated costs for these and other related recalls. The company expects an additional charge of about $2.4 billion in 2023’s fourth quarter “to resolve these and other related matters involving approximately one million pick-up truck applications in the United States.”

Cummins’ agreement in principle is with the U.S. and State of California. The settlement is subject to final approvals.

Shares for Cummins Inc. were down about 3% Friday morning. Last month, the engine maker, based in Columbus, Indiana, reported third-quarter net income of $656 million on revenue of $8.4 billion.

Stellantis, maker of Ram vehicles, did not comment Friday.