Michiel van Deursen
It has been a wild summer. Some would even say too wild.
As the world has again sweltered under repeat killer heat waves, massive fire seasons and floods, the urgency of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions has never been greater. “Code red for humanity,” indeed, as we were warned with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s assessment.
The advocates for climate-change action – who justifiably express outrage at the fact that the world is not addressing the crisis with the urgency it warrants – seem to have given little thought to what is perhaps the highest impact, scalable climate solution available outside of energy: producing meat from plants, no industrial farms or slaughterhouses required.
Industrial animal agriculture is a leading cause of climate change and biodiversity loss, increases pandemic and antibiotic resistance risks, is a major cause of diet related health issues and harms animals in ways that we’d rather not have on our conscience. But meat consumption just keeps going up. People want to eat meat. So rather than trying to convince people to change, let’s change our meat instead. Make plant meat, not animal meat.
It may sound strange: Eating meat to save the world?
A quick side note, when we are discussing alternative protein, it is easy to only use meat as an example, and focus on that category. The dairy industry however is similar if not worse and should not be overlooked. So when we talk about meat, please do read between the lines and apply to other categories like cheese, milk or eggs as well.
Just like renewable energy can replace fossil fuels, and just like electric vehicles can replace conventional vehicles, plant-based meat can replace animal meat – if they give consumers the entire meat experience at an equal or lower cost.
Just as combustion engines are now only the second-most energy-efficient way to move your car, animals can soon be the second-best way to make meat. You can drive your car, eat your meat, and still save the climate.
We all know that replacing animal products with plant-based foods has a major positive impact on the environment, animal welfare and public health. However, consumer adoption has not matched investor expectations as growth in plant-based food sales has actually slowed down in the past year.
Although the market is accelerating fast, according to investment marketplace Vevolution.com, there have never been more start-ups raising funds, but some key product improvements do need to be achieved. The main factors preventing consumers from buying these products are taste, price, nutritional value and availability. These are actually quite simple to improve, and this is where regulators should step up.
At the moment, nearly a fifth of the EU's budget goes on livestock farming, and at least 71% of the EU’s farmland is used to feed livestock. The industry is heavily subsidised, putting the alternative protein sector in an extremely difficult position, with a very low chance of ever becoming competitive. These subsidies are distorting the market, and should be decreased immediately.
With government support to facilitate research and development, alternative meats could be indistinguishable from conventional meat in taste and structure. They could also be cheaper and much healthier than products made from animals.
We are not quite there yet, like every major change in society - it takes time. But when consumers, climate advocates and governments finally align, things will scale up fast.
With scale comes lower prices and low prices equal availability, meaning these better, improved products will be everywhere, hopefully even becoming the default option in many places. Until then, we can (and should) vote with our fork at every mealtime, and choose a plant-based alternative instead!
