Generated Summary
This policy document, “Decoupling Methane Emissions from Meat with Alternative Proteins: Recommendations for Methane Pledge Participants,” focuses on the critical need to mitigate methane emissions from the food and agriculture sector. The study emphasizes the potential of alternative proteins as a key strategy to reduce these emissions, particularly from enteric fermentation in ruminant animals. It recommends a three-pronged approach for Methane Pledge participants: fostering innovation in alternative proteins, mainstreaming these proteins within international climate processes, and engaging in international cooperation to advance these efforts. The document employs a review of existing research and data to support its recommendations, and it advocates for targeted policy measures, increased public funding, and international collaboration to accelerate the adoption of alternative proteins.
Key Findings & Statistics
- Methane is second only to carbon dioxide in fueling climate change.
- The amount of methane in the atmosphere has more than doubled since pre-industrial times.
- It will be impossible to keep global warming at internationally agreed levels of no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius if emissions continue to grow at current rates or even remain stable.
- Reducing methane emissions now could help avoid dangerous climate feedback loops, like those associated with methane pulses from melting permafrost.
- Near-term methane emission reductions could prevent as much as half a degree Celsius in warming by the end of the century.
- The Methane Pledge aims to reduce global methane emissions by 30% by 2030.
- Over 90 percent of anthropogenic methane emissions come from agriculture, fossil fuels, and waste.
- Enteric fermentation is the single largest source of methane from food systems by far.
- Emissions from enteric fermentation are on track to increase roughly 50% by 2050.
- Strategies to reduce direct emissions from ruminant animal production can only reduce end-of-century warming from food by around 20 percent.
- Innovation in alternative proteins could reduce methane emissions by as much as 1.8 Gt CO2e per year by 2050, halving food system methane emissions.
- The consumption of ruminant meat and dairy alone account for more than three quarters of future warming from food.
- Around half of these projected food-related temperature increases are due to consumption of ruminant meat and dairy alone.
- In 2020, total private sector investment in alternative proteins reached $3.1 billion, while public sector investment was negligible.
- The level needed for global public sector investment alone is estimated at $10.1 billion per year ($4.4b on RD&D and $5.7b on commercialization).
- Plant-based meat and seafood are made from plants but reproduce the taste and texture of animal-based products.
- Plant-based meat and seafood are made from plants but reproduce the taste and texture of animal-based products.
Other Important Findings
- The document differentiates between plant-based and cultivated alternative proteins.
- Alternative proteins could become a key to reducing global emissions from food agriculture at the scale and speed needed to stabilize the Earth’s climate.
- Methane Pledge participants should prioritize enteric fermentation.
- The single most powerful strategy to drive emissions down further is innovation in alternative proteins.
- Consumers will choose alternative proteins at higher rates if prices fall and taste improves.
- Alternative proteins have an important role to play in closing the methane emissions gap left by production-side strategies to decrease methane intensity of ruminant meat and milk.
- Investments in R&D and commercialization measures are needed to help these products compete on cost and taste with conventional animal products.
- Alternative protein innovation could deliver environmental and social benefits including reductions in deforestation, air and water pollution, biodiversity losses, land demand for food, food insecurity, pandemic risk, and antibiotic resistance.
- Animal production in particular has two features that make it especially vulnerable to breakdown: It requires particular geographies and climates, and the timeline from the first planting of feed crops to the final distribution to supermarkets is long and hard to adjust mid-stream.
- Alternative proteins can be produced almost anywhere, enabling great geographic dispersal, and involves shorter timelines that make it far easier to adapt their supply chains to unexpected changes than those for animal products.
- Animals are highly inefficient converters of feed to food.
- AP innovation could also help to reduce public health risks related to pandemics, wildlife-derived diseases, and antimicrobial resistance.
- Alternative protein production does not using large quantities of antibiotics on large numbers of genetically similar animals held together in close quarters, it does not carry these same risks.
- Once alternative protein production achieves sufficient scale, the industry stands to create millions of jobs and significantly increase gross value added (GVA).
Limitations Noted in the Document
- The document acknowledges that strategies to reduce the methane intensity of ruminant meat and milk alone may not be sufficient to meet climate goals.
- Adoption rates of livestock interventions are uncertain.
- The success of alternative proteins relies on their competitiveness in terms of cost and taste.
- The document notes that the data on air pollution from alternative proteins is limited.
- The study recognizes that the effects of different studies cannot be precisely compared.
Conclusion
The core argument of this document is that the climate community, especially Methane Pledge participants, must address the challenge of rising methane emissions from food and agriculture to avoid unacceptable risks of catastrophic global warming. It advocates for a shift towards alternative proteins as a key strategy for reducing enteric methane emissions, which are projected to increase significantly by 2050. The document emphasizes that relying solely on production-side interventions will not be sufficient to meet climate goals, given the projected increase in demand for animal protein. It highlights the need for significant investment and deployment of alternative protein strategies to drive emissions down further, offering specific recommendations for policymakers. The document stresses that the sensory experience and nutrition of animal meat using plants, fermentation, or cellular agriculture, could become the key solution. Moreover, the co-benefits of alternative protein innovation, including reductions in deforestation and biodiversity loss, are emphasized. “Given the mitigation potential of alternative proteins, such investment is an indispensable methane mitigation solution for the food and agriculture sector.” The document concludes by highlighting that alternative protein innovation aimed at achieving price and taste parity with conventional animal meat is a key strategy, not just for reducing methane emissions, but also for addressing a range of other environmental and social challenges. The document clearly prioritizes the need to foster innovation, mainstream alternative proteins within international climate processes, and engage in international cooperation to advance this promising mitigation technology.