Coffee vs Burgers? Biodiversity and The Future of Food

Meat or your morning brew? Which would you give up if you had to choose? It’s not just a theoretical question. The COP26 Sustainable Agriculture Agenda and the targets of the Kunming Conference scheduled for spring 2022 reflect a dire reality: The global food system accounts for about a third of global greenhouse gas emissions¹ and destroys more nature every year than any other industry.²  If we don’t drastically change our food production and eating habits, climate change and biodiversity loss will change them for us.

Alternative proteins made from plants, fungi or lab-grown meat may be one way the food and agriculture industry shift to compensate for these externalities. The movement is already underway as the chart below shows: more industries have a portion of their revenue tied to sales of alternative proteins. The growth of plant-based proteins in the coming year might be the thing that saves our morning latte.