As the country’s alternative proteins industry convened in Melbourne yesterday for the annual AltProteins conference, news broke that The Aussie Plant Based Co., makers of vEEF and Love Buds plant-based foods, had gone into liquidation. Investment, education, and action were consistent messages of the day, but frustration was palpable at the lack of political interest, maturity, and courage to lead and support the transition underway in our food system.
Gobal food systems are on par with electricity and industry sectors when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change pegs it between 22-33 percent – but gets far less attention from policymakers, investors, philanthropists, and activists.
In his opening address, head of the Global Alliance for a Sustainable Planet, Satya Tripathi, put it bluntly, “We absolutely cannot, cannot tackle or solve the climate crisis without fixing the way we grow food”.
"This is a room full of changemakers. If we are going to mitigate all the consequences of this ever-worsening crisis, we also need more government support for this industry and for food system change in general,” Tripathi said.
Green Queen Media founding editor, Sonalie Figueiras, echoed Tripathi when she took to the stage.
“Alternative proteins continue to be a major and extremely untapped climate solution,” Figueiras said. “Plant rich diets and reducing food waste are the top two high-impact climate actions for individuals,” she said.
The two most impactful things households and individuals can do is eat a more plant-rich diet and reduce food waste.
The impact of these two things outstrips anything else, reducing 103.1 and 102.2 Gt CO2-eq over 30 years respectively. The third most impactful action is solar panels, which is around 40 Gt behind at 64.9 Gt CO2-eq.
Recycling’s figure was 11.3 Gt CO2-eq, electric cars 9.8 Gt CO2-eq, reduced plastic 5.4 Gt CO2-eq, and composting 2.9 Gt CO2-eq.
Figueiras said around two thirds of those surveyed didn’t think eating meat or dairy had any impact on the climate.
“The messaging is not getting through," she said.
In the late 1990s, economist Richard H. Thaler developed the concept of mental accounting. His premise was that instead of thinking about money in the strict accounting sense, we create different boxes or mental accounts in our head and think about money in terms of where it came from or what we want to use it for to give it more or less value.
“That is the true metaphor for food systems transformation,” Tripathi said.
“What humans need is proteins, fats, carbohydrates and nutrients to survive, thrive, and prosper. But we create these false binaries of alternative proteins, land-based agriculture, aquaculture, or whatever it is that appeals to us or that we are comfortable with. This tendency to create artificial divisions in our thinking is the biggest challenge to effective food system transformation.
“Policy makers need to come out of their cubbyholes of mental accounting and start thinking big in terms of food systems transformation and look at all these as parts of the jigsaw, not as isolated things,” he said.
