Scientists estimate that approximately 14% of climate change is attributable to the meat industry. Raising animals for food has an enormous impact on the planet, resulting in massive carbon emissions, air and water pollution, land degradation and loss of biodiversity. Forests, which absorb greenhouse gasses, are cut down for animal pasture and to grow crops to feed them, further contributing to the climate crisis.

Eliminating meat from our diet is one of the most impactful actions each of us can take to reduce our carbon footprints. It is also a safer way to eat: about 80 percent of antibiotics produced in the U.S. are given to farm animals, contributing to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and superbugs that cannot be killed by standard antibiotics.

With plant-based meat, cultivated meat, and fermentation, we can mitigate the environmental impact of our food system, decrease the risk of zoonotic disease, and ultimately feed more people with fewer resources. Understanding that we need to eat differently and find a more efficient food system for nearly 10 billion people by 2050, GFI supports the innovators, investors, and companies focused on clean meat and plant-based alternatives to animal products.

Plant-based meat is produced directly from plants. Instead of relying on an animal to convert plants into meat, we can make meat more efficiently by skipping the animal and turning plant ingredients directly into meat. Like animal-based meat, plant-based meat is composed of protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, and water. Next-generation plant-based meat looks, cooks, and tastes like conventional meat.

Cultivated meat is created by growing meat outside of an animal from a small cell sample, eliminating the need for factory farming and slaughter. The result is 100-percent real meat, but without the antibiotic residues and bacterial contamination in conventional meat production. The process is efficient, reducing land and water costs and slashing greenhouse gas emissions.

Fermentation is a powerful, flexible process for using microorganisms to produce alternative proteins. Fermentation has been used in food production for millennia. Ancient civilizations used microbial cultures to preserve foods, create alcoholic beverages, and improve the nutritional value and bioavailability of foods ranging from yogurt to tempeh. Over the past century, the role of fermentation has expanded far beyond its historical usage to a much broader range of applications. There are many uses of fermentation in the broader alt protein field.

GFI is helping to change the way we eat and consequently how we impact the planet.

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