Initiatives for a sustainable food system

Alternative proteins are a global health solution

According to the UN, among the biggest threats to global health are pandemics and antibiotic resistance. Each can be tied to food and agriculture. Increasing demand for animal protein and today’s industrial methods of meat production are among the likely causes of the next pandemic. Antibiotic resistance, brought on by the overuse of antibiotics in farmed animals, could kill 10 million people a year by 2050.

But there is a solution. Plant-based and cultivated meat can feed a growing population, without contributing to pandemic risk or antibiotic resistance.

Over the past two years alone, the global pandemic and climate extremes have exposed the fragility of the world’s agricultural supply chains, disrupting the ability to safely and securely grow, produce, and deliver food. Through the dual-lens of global health and food security, the prospect of meat grown in more secure, agile, and resilient production environments—with zero risk of contributing to zoonotic disease transmission or antibiotic resistance—is gaining worldwide traction.

Alternative proteins are a food security solution

A global pandemic, climate change, wars, and conflict have exposed the fragility of the world’s food supply chain. The weakest link in that chain? Industrial meat production.

Given finite land and water, a growing global population, and crisis-level food security issues, we can no longer afford the inefficiencies and risks of cycling crops through animals to produce protein. Globally, the total volume of human-grade crops  used as animal feed exceeds 968 million metric tons. That’s enough to solve the world’s grain shortage 20 times over.

More efficient ways of producing protein exist that can enhance food security even in land-and water-constrained environments. Compared with conventional meat, cultivated meat could require up to 95 percent less land and 78 percent less water, while plant-based meat uses up to 99 percent less land and 99 percent less water.

Alternative proteins can, at once, be a globally scalable solution and a regional food solution—produced by both large, multinational companies and by small-scale farmers with indigenous crops adapted to local climates and suited to the needs and tastes of local communities. Similar to the ecological dynamics within natural ecosystems, in which diversity equals resilience, a diversity of people, crops, models, and solutions will be needed to infuse much needed resilience to our global food system.  

Food security is possible in a world where alternative proteins are no longer alternative.

Alternative proteins are a biodiversity solution

Over the past 100 years, natural landscapes have been radically transformed by our global food system. By one estimate, 70% of grasslands, 50% of savannas, and 25% of forests worldwide have already been cleared or converted for agriculture. With global demand for meat expected to double by 2050, status-quo production puts us on a path toward what the World Resources Institute terms a ‘global land squeeze’ – a lose-lose competition over finite land resources.

It is impossible to protect and restore lands and waters—and the biodiversity they support–without rethinking the way we grow and produce food, especially meat. But while agriculture today is the biggest driver of deforestation and biodiversity loss, it’s also our biggest opportunity. Alongside other advances and innovations in food and farming policies and practices, alternative proteins—specifically plant-based and cultivated meat—can help write the next chapter for food and agriculture around the world.
Changing how we make meat could free up three billion hectares of land to be repurposed for regenerative agriculture, renewable energy production, rewilding, transferring back to Indigenous peoples, and more. Alternative seafood can ease the burden on our overfished oceans and help preserve wild fish stocks for the coastal communities that rely on them to survive. True change requires everyone at the table—scientists, students, start-ups, farmers, fishers, big companies, small companies, NGOs, policymakers, and entire governments—all working together to reduce agricultural emissions, improve public health outcomes, increase food system resilience, and make possible the recovery and restoration of life-enabling ecosystems.