Switching to a meat alternative could halve deforestation and CO2 emissions

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-05-05 01:00

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German and Swedish researchers say that we could halve the annual deforestation and its associated carbon dioxide emissions by switching out 20 per cent of our beef consumption with a microbial protein. This protein can be derived from fermenting a naturally-occurring fungus, and its use would come with numerous land-use-based environmental impacts, they say. The researchers believe this switch, over a global scale, would result in a 56 per cent reduction in the need to cut down our forests and all associated CO2 emissions by 2050. However, they add that an increase beyond 20 per cent would not likely result in linear increases in saving our trees and land.

Media release

From: Springer Nature

Weighing up the environmental benefits of replacing beef with microbial protein (N&V)

Replacing 20% of global beef consumption with fermentation-derived microbial protein by 2050 could halve annual deforestation and associated carbon dioxide emissions, according to a modelling study in Nature. Higher levels of substitution, however, may have diminishing benefits.

As the negative environmental impacts of ruminant meat consumption become more evident — including those concerning greenhouse gas emissions or land use changes — the incorporation of animal-free alternatives is being encouraged for improved health and sustainability. Previous studies of fermentation-derived microbial protein, such as mycoprotein (a commercially available meat alternative), have estimated potential environmental benefits. However, these assessment methods are often static, with limited scalability.

Florian Humpenöder and colleagues investigated the potential land-use-based environmental impacts of partially replacing dietary beef with sugar-based microbial protein on a global scale, up to 2050. The authors also considered socioeconomic factors such as a rising demand for livestock, population expansion and increases in income. Overall, the authors estimate that replacing 20% of the beef that is consumed globally per person with microbial protein by 2050 would result in a 56% reduction in annual deforestation and associated carbon dioxide emissions, compared to a reference, non-substitution scenario. Increasing substitution levels beyond this point, however, would not result in linear increases in land-saving effects. The authors predict that this may be the result of the requirement for changes in the structure of agricultural production.

The authors conclude that, beyond complementing findings of previous studies, their results provide more dynamic projections of the potential land-use-based environmental impacts of substituting beef with microbial protein, with greater consideration for the contexts that frame environmental pressures.

Journal/
conference: Nature

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Potsdam, Germany

Funder: This work received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant nos. 821124 (NAVIGATE) and 821471 (ENGAGE). Further support was provided by the Global Commons Stewardship project funded by the University of Tokyo (grant no. 94104), the GreenPlantFood project funded by the Research Council of Norway (grant no. 319049) and the Food System Economics Commission funded by the Wellcome Trust (grant no. 221362/Z/20/Z) and the Rockefeller (2020 FOD 008) and IKEA Foundations (G-2009-01682).

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