Investments in plant-based meat can help cut down carbon emissions: Report

A report from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has revealed that investments in plant-based meat alternatives lead to far greater cuts in climate-heating emissions than other green investments.

The improved investment in the production of meat and dairy alternatives resulted in three times more greenhouse gas reductions compared with investment in green cement technology, seven times more than green buildings and 11 times more than zero-emission cars, The Guardian reported citing the report.

“Widespread adoption of alternative proteins can play a critical role in tackling climate change,” Malte Clausen, a partner at BCG told UK-based newspaper

“We call it the untapped climate opportunity – you’re getting more impact from your investment in alternative proteins than in any other sector of the economy.”

Clausen asserted that investments in plant-based have had a dramatic effect in cutting down carbon footprint.

“There’s been a lot of investments into electric vehicles, wind turbines and solar panels, which is all great and helpful to reduce emissions, but we have not seen comparable investment yet [in alternative proteins], even though it’s rising rapidly,” he said. “If you really care about impact as an investor, this is an area that you definitely need to understand.”

Meat and dairy production uses 83 per cent of farmland and causes 60 per cent of agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions, but provides only 18 per cent of calories and 37 per cent of protein.

Moving human diets from meat to plants means less forest is destroyed for pasture and fodder growing and less emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane produced by cattle and sheep.

The assessment of the BCG group found resonance in the other report of The Project Drawdown group, in which the scientists concluded that avoiding meat and dairy products is the single biggest way to reduce environmental impact on the planet and that large cuts in meat consumption in rich nations are essential to ending the climate crisis.

“Alternative proteins have received only a fraction of the investment deployed in other sectors,” the BCG report said.

“Buildings have received 4.4 times more mitigation capital than food production, even though building emissions are 57 per cent lower than those tied to food production.”

Switching from conventional meat to alternatives is also much less disruptive to consumers than flying less or retrofitting their homes, the report said.

(With inputs from agencies)

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