The avo burger can walk... and it leaves a carbon footprint. Wild stat: the global food production system accounts for more than a third of human-made greenhouse gases. Wilder stat: ~45% of Earth's ice-free land is covered by crops to feed livestock — that means fewer trees and plants to suck up CO2.
pea.protein22 has joined the chat.... Sustainability concerns have propelled the rise of plant-based foods. In March 2020, 9.7M Americans reported following plant-based diets, up from 300K in 2004. Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods say their plant burgers generate ~90% fewer emissions than beef (and require less water and land). Now, alt-food companies are gaining mainstream appeal:
Food is a change-maker... UN climate head Christiana Figueres sees the food industry as "one of the main levers of change" on global warming (she's also on Impossible's board). Alt-meat companies like Impossible and Beyond are explicitly targeting meat eaters who want to cut down — not vegetarians. If they succeed in full-mainstreamification of alt-protein, it could make a big difference. The plant-based meat industry is already a $20B biz, set to grow to $23 billion by 2024. But these companies still face pushback from the "real" beef and milk industries.