The Year of the Rat is quickly approaching, which means it’s time to take out your Chinese candy boxes out from your cupboards and fill them up with delicious goodies. While we are big fans of the tradition, many of the sweet treats that you’ll find aren’t exactly vegan-friendly. So if you’re wondering what to put in your “tray of togetherness” this year, we’re here to help with these 5 Chinese snacks that are totally plant-based!
1. Melon Seeds (Gua zi)
Source: CNY
Melon seeds are traditionally enjoyed during the Lunar New Year because they symbolise abundance and wealth! Not only do they supposedly bring in prosperity, these perfectly snackable (and addictive) black and red seeds are super healthy too – they are super rich in iron, magnesium and folate.
2. Pistachios (Hoi sum guo)
Source: Pinterest
Pistachios are another completely healthy vegan whole food snack that Chinese families dig into during the Spring Festival. As some of you may know, these delicious nuts are called hoi sum guo in Chinese, which literally translates to “happy nuts.” So make sure to fill your boxes up with some pistachios to spread the joy.
3. Candied Ginger (Geung tong)
Source: Foodal
Crystallised ginger or candied ginger is a much-loved traditional Chinese snack. Though enjoyed year-round, these feature in many candy trays because ginger is considered a very healthy food that will bring about longevity in Chinese culture. You can either make your own version at home or find them in most market stalls and Chinese supermarkets.
4. Mandarins (Gam)
Source: Pinterest
Of course, mandarins are an iconic fruit that appears every year during the Spring festivities. This is mainly because the Chinese word for mandarins – gam or gum – sounds just like gold, so this mini auspicious fruit is thought to represent good wealth and fortune. Plus, these are so delicious and so healthy!
We know that most modern Chinese candy boxes are now filled with chocolate coins and gummy candies, so complete your box with some vegan-friendly sweet alternatives. We propose vegan dark chocolate buttons to replace the chocolate coins, and gelatin-free gummies – both of which can be found in the city’s zero-waste bulk food stores. Plus, they come packaging-free so you don’t have to worry about the pesky pile of disposable waste that conventional versions come with.
With online bank-checking tool Bank.Green, you can figure out whether you’re banking with fossil fuel backers.
2024 might just be the year when more of us can choose wisely when it comes to where we bank. Thanks to a sustainable banking campaign called Bank.Green, people can search whether they are supporting banks that continue to invest in dirty energy despite the climate crisis.
Bank-checking tool
The bank-checking tool, which was first launched in 2021, allows users to search up their bank, generating a result on a red-to-green metre. There are multiple categories, ranging from Worst and Bad to OK, Good and Great. At the top of the green scale are banks rated Great, which have agreed to not provide any financing to fossil fuels and have backed up their claims with third-party verification.
Most of the data comes from investigations by NGOs such as the Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack and Reclaim Finance, as well as Bank.Green’s research.
Courtesy: Bank.Green
If you search for HSBC, Bank.Green gives a red rating and provides information about the US$144.9 billion the corporation has funnelled into coal, oil and gas between 2016-2022. The bank also holds the title of being the second most generous financier of fracking in the UK and the largest backer of coal within Europe.
The reason why your banking choices matter is because the money entrusted to banks is currently being used to fund dirty energy and other climate-wreaking projects.
“Without your money, banks cannot make these loans and investments,” reads Bank.Green’s explainer. “It is up to you to choose – safeguard your money with banks that support fossil fuels, or those that do not.”
The impact of the banking industry reemerged in the headlines lately, thanks to award-winning actress Olivia Coleman’s satirical video campaign produced by Make My Money Matter. In the advert, the actress starred as Oblivia Coalmine, a “latex clad oil exec paid for by our pensions”. In the UK, £88 billion of the nation’s pension savers money is used to back fossil fuels.
As a non-profit organisation, Bank.Green hopes to raise awareness about the banking industry’s role in the climate crisis. According to data from the Banking on Climate Chaos report led by global environmental NGOs including the Sierra Club and the Rainforest Action Network, more than $5.5 trillion has been poured into the fossil fuel industry between 2016-2022.
Just 60 of the world’s top banks were responsible for the staggering figure, with names like HSBC, SMBC of Japan and ING among some of the worst offenders. The latter, ING based in the Netherlands, invested more than €7 billion between 2016-2017, as per data from Fair Finance International.
But all this scrutiny amounts to little real impact unless consumers make the change. Unless banks face monetary pressure to halt their investments in fossil fuels, it is unlikely that the industry will move towards greener practices.
Bank.Green says that it hopes to help guide money away from unsustainable banks by generating practical solutions, like switching to what it has dubbed a “fossil-free bank”. Under the non-profit’s Fossil-Free Banking Alliance, banks that have ended their connections to coal, oil and gas are identifiable with a certification badge.
Among some of the banks certified include the online-only Clean Energy Credit Union based in Colorado, and Texas-headquartered Green Dot, currently the world’s largest prepaid debit card company by market cap.
Courtesy: Bank.Green
“There are a lot of fossil-free banks out there that don’t have a way of shouting about it yet,” said Bank.Green co-founder Zak Gottlieb, at the time of the alliance’s launch in late 2022. “Fossil Free Certification is the simplest way to signal to customers, professionals in the banking sector, and the general public that a sustainability-conscious financial institution is putting its money where its mouth is.”
However, fossil-free banking options remain sparse in places like Asia. Hong Kong, for instance, is devoid of a single bank certified under Bank.Green’s scheme. In these cases, the non-profit advises consumers to apply pressure through a pledge or raise sustainability concerns directly with their financial provider.
With online bank-checking tool Bank.Green, you can figure out whether you’re banking with fossil fuel backers.
2024 might just be the year when more of us can choose wisely when it comes to where we bank. Thanks to a sustainable banking campaign called Bank.Green, people can search whether they are supporting banks that continue to invest in dirty energy despite the climate crisis.
Bank-checking tool
The bank-checking tool, which was first launched in 2021, allows users to search up their bank, generating a result on a red-to-green metre. There are multiple categories, ranging from Worst and Bad to OK, Good and Great. At the top of the green scale are banks rated Great, which have agreed to not provide any financing to fossil fuels and have backed up their claims with third-party verification.
Most of the data comes from investigations by NGOs such as the Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack and Reclaim Finance, as well as Bank.Green’s research.
Courtesy: Bank.Green
If you search for HSBC, Bank.Green gives a red rating and provides information about the US$144.9 billion the corporation has funnelled into coal, oil and gas between 2016-2022. The bank also holds the title of being the second most generous financier of fracking in the UK and the largest backer of coal within Europe.
The reason why your banking choices matter is because the money entrusted to banks is currently being used to fund dirty energy and other climate-wreaking projects.
“Without your money, banks cannot make these loans and investments,” reads Bank.Green’s explainer. “It is up to you to choose – safeguard your money with banks that support fossil fuels, or those that do not.”
The impact of the banking industry reemerged in the headlines lately, thanks to award-winning actress Olivia Coleman’s satirical video campaign produced by Make My Money Matter. In the advert, the actress starred as Oblivia Coalmine, a “latex clad oil exec paid for by our pensions”. In the UK, £88 billion of the nation’s pension savers money is used to back fossil fuels.
As a non-profit organisation, Bank.Green hopes to raise awareness about the banking industry’s role in the climate crisis. According to data from the Banking on Climate Chaos report led by global environmental NGOs including the Sierra Club and the Rainforest Action Network, more than $5.5 trillion has been poured into the fossil fuel industry between 2016-2022.
Just 60 of the world’s top banks were responsible for the staggering figure, with names like HSBC, SMBC of Japan and ING among some of the worst offenders. The latter, ING based in the Netherlands, invested more than €7 billion between 2016-2017, as per data from Fair Finance International.
But all this scrutiny amounts to little real impact unless consumers make the change. Unless banks face monetary pressure to halt their investments in fossil fuels, it is unlikely that the industry will move towards greener practices.
Bank.Green says that it hopes to help guide money away from unsustainable banks by generating practical solutions, like switching to what it has dubbed a “fossil-free bank”. Under the non-profit’s Fossil-Free Banking Alliance, banks that have ended their connections to coal, oil and gas are identifiable with a certification badge.
Among some of the banks certified include the online-only Clean Energy Credit Union based in Colorado, and Texas-headquartered Green Dot, currently the world’s largest prepaid debit card company by market cap.
Courtesy: Bank.Green
“There are a lot of fossil-free banks out there that don’t have a way of shouting about it yet,” said Bank.Green co-founder Zak Gottlieb, at the time of the alliance’s launch in late 2022. “Fossil Free Certification is the simplest way to signal to customers, professionals in the banking sector, and the general public that a sustainability-conscious financial institution is putting its money where its mouth is.”
However, fossil-free banking options remain sparse in places like Asia. Hong Kong, for instance, is devoid of a single bank certified under Bank.Green’s scheme. In these cases, the non-profit advises consumers to apply pressure through a pledge or raise sustainability concerns directly with their financial provider.
TiNDLE Foods, the food tech behind the hit plant-based chicken alternative, is making its retail debut in Switzerland.
TiNDLE Foods, the Singapore-headquartered global vegan meat brand, has made its way to Switzerland. Launching exclusively on the shelves of supermarket chain Coop, shoppers in the country will now be able to purchase the brand’s range of plant-based chicken products at 440 stores nationwide, as well as via the retailer’s online platform.
A number of the brand’s fan favourites will be found on shelves, including TiNDLE Burgers, Crispy Fillets, Nuggets, and Wings. The 100% vegan range is made using soy and wheat protein and packs 17 grams of protein and 8 grams of fibre per 100-gram serving. These will be sold for RRP 5.95 CHF, with the exception of Nuggets, which retail for 4.95 CHF.
When asked whether TiNDLE will also roll out in Swiss restaurants, the food tech told Green Queen that at the moment, they are remaining “focused on the retail category for now”.
The launch comes in time for Veganuary, the global movement that challenges participants to go vegan for the first month of the new year for animal welfare, sustainability, and health reasons.
As part of the Veganuary campaign, TiNDLE said that there are 2 discount promotions until the first half of the month (Burgers, Crispy Fillets, and Wings retail for 5.35 CHF and Nuggets are 4.45 CHF) and in the final week of January, there will be a 25% discount on the whole range.
Courtesy: TiNDLE Foods
Vegan products are part of Coop’s sustainability plans
The launch of TiNDLE Chicken is part of the retailer’s larger sustainability plans, including its goal to reduce its environmental footprint by 2026. As part of its strategy, the supermarket giant is introducing a number of new “sustainable product angles”—one of which is meat substitutes like TiNDLE.
“We are continually monitoring the market, along with the latest trends and plant-based products that are being developed. Not only are TiNDLE’s chicken products innovative, but they are in line with what consumers are looking for and are the ideal addition to our range of vegan products,” shared product purchasing manager for vegan and vegetarian alternatives at Coop, Martin Stutz.
The four products launched at over 400 stores nationwide and via the retailer’s online channel, Burgers, Crispy Fillets, Nuggets and Wings, are all convenient alternatives designed for consumers to prepare within minutes.
According to Coop, many of its shoppers are looking for grocery-ready meat alternatives, with 63% of Swiss consumers actively reducing meat consumption in its latest poll findings. Coop also saw its own meat substitute category grow by 350% over the last 3 years. A MACH Consumer study revealed that most Swiss consumers who purchase meat alternatives eat animal meat regularly.
“Introducing TiNDLE to the Swiss market is an important step for us, as the country is a global leader when it comes to sustainability and preservation, with long-term goals to reduce carbon emissions,” commented TiNDLE Foods senior vice president of business development Marc Sohier.
Courtesy: TiNDLE Foods
TiNDLE’s worldwide takeover
Since 2022, TiNDLE has rapidly expanded its retail footprint, starting with its first-ever D2C product debut in Germany, where its products can be found at over 2,200 Edeka Group stores. It later launched in the UK with the supermarket chain Morrisons and Whole Foods, and most recently in the US.
In the US, TiNDLE’s chicken can be found in the freezers of Giant Eagle stores and in the online platform FreshDirect, as well as in various regional retailers sprawled across the country. Following the Swiss launch, TiNDLE says it is “eagerly awaiting feedback” from consumers.
TiNDLE vegan chicken was created by its parent company Next Gen Foods in 2020, and first made it to consumers through restaurants and foodservice channels. In 2023, the parent company rebranded to TiNDLE Foods and also acquired London-based plant-based dairy brand Mwah! in 2023 as part of the firm’s continued product category expansion. TiNDLE is one of the most well-capitalized plant-based meat brands globally; to date, it has raised over $130M.
Shortly after, TiNDLE Foods launched a breakfast sausage for foodservice channels in the US. The company previously told Green Queen that it has plans to go forward with more products in 2024, from plant-based milks to gelatos.
Switzerland is home to one of Europe’s largest, most well-funded plant-based meat companies: backed by the likes of private equity fund L Catterton, Zurich-based Planted Foods AG has raised over $100M. Like TiNDLE, it has an extensive chicken product range. Board member Judith Wemmer told Swissinfo recently that the company’s main competitor is the meat industry, adding “the market for food products is immense and so there must be room for a multitude of different actors.”
Mush Foods, the Israeli startup innovating mycelium-blended alt-proteins, is rolling out a line of mushroom root blends in the US market. Called 50Cut, the product is aimed at improving the sustainability of meat and fish-based dishes in restaurants.
Mush Foods, the startup behind a mycelium ingredient designed for ‘hybrid’ alternative meat products, is launching a line of mushroom root blends for US restaurants after debuting its ‘meat-plus’ range in Israel. The new range, dubbed 50Cut, is aimed at improving the sustainability, nutrition and flavour of dishes that contain ground beef, poultry and fish.
Unlike many other plant-based food techs, Mush Foods is offering a blended solution. That means its product is meant to reduce, rather than eliminate, meat from restaurant tables. The launch of 50Cut in the US comes shortly after the firm bagged $6.2 million in seed funding last year led by Israeli tech investment group Viola Ventures, which fuelled its restaurant debut in its home market.
At the moment, Mush Foods has not announced specific foodservice partners or chefs where its product line will be used, but told Green Queen that the first US customer will be revealed “the the coming weeks” and that distribution will kick off “in the coming days”.
Courtesy: Dan Lev
50Cut: Helping consumers cut down on meat
The line is made using the company’s proprietary above-ground cultivation technique, which enables the rapid growth of culinary-grade mushroom roots on local farms in the US in just 8 days. These roots of a variety of mushrooms, including shiitake and king oyster mushrooms, are then used to create a number of pre-blended umami-flavoured products for chefs to incorporate into their dishes. It can replace 50% of the beef used in a burger patty, for example.
In conversation with Green Queen, a spokesperson for Mush Foods told us that the product itself is 100% mushroom and mycelium-based, but has been designed for chefs to reduce the proportion of meat on plates. In a press release, the company said that nearly 1 in 4 US consumers say they are attempting to cut back on meat. The ground meat category is estimated at $600 billion ($94 billion industry in the U.S. alone) while plant-based meat alternatives represent just 1.5% of the category.* Mush Foods is offering the market a flavor-first ingredient that gives chefs the culinary flexibility to meet evolving consumer needs.
“We craft the mushroom root blends for chefs to mix with meat,” Mush Foods says. “We blend specific varieties of culinary-grade mushrooms to match the taste and texture of meat, chicken, and fish.”
In an interview with Green Queen last year, co-founder and CEO Shalom Daniel added that the company’s product is a flavour enhancer too: “With Mush’s mycelium blends, the natural flavours of the meat truly come out,” notes Daniel.
Courtesy: Mush Foods
In addition, Daniel said that the goal is to cut global meat consumption by half, thereby reducing a significant portion of the food system’s emissions and climate burden. “We don’t need the entire world to go vegan to have a positive impact on our food supply and environment” and that Mush Foods’ mycelium is a part of the solution because mushrooms are not resource-intensive and their product does not require “tapping additional crops.”
It might be especially appealing to the growing flexitarian population—people who are not vegan or vegetarian, but focus on a significant reduction of meat and dairy from their diets.
Aside from sustainability benefits, Mush Foods says its new blended roots line is a good source of dietary fibre including beta-glucan, and is rich in nutrients such as potassium, iron and calcium. It is also a complete protein, containing all 9 essential amino acids.
Speaking about the product, Mush Foods culinary director AJ Schaller said she believes 50Cut is “poised to solve some of our most pressing environmental challenges in a stunningly simple and seamless way,” adding that it will “help reduce meat consumption while enhancing flavour, juiciness, and yields.”
Sustainable and cheaper
One of the main selling points of Mush Foods’ 50Cut solution for restaurants is its cost-efficiency.
Speaking with Green Queen, a spokesperson for Mush Foods says that much of the excitement about its mushroom root blends is that it “impacts the bottom line in a positive way.”
One key benefit? Local production. A Mush spokesperson confirmed that it is “growing the mushroom root with local farmers in the US, thus saving on expensive logistics and transport-related emissions.
Courtesy: Mush Foods
When asked about the specific pricing, the company did not provide exact numbers but stated that it would be below that of conventional meat. “Not only is there a positive outcome for the environment and for the consumer in terms of flavour, but the price per pound to our customers is less expensive than meat.”
“We already know that you can have a phenomenal product from an environmental standpoint but if the economics don’t work, it will not thrive. We believe this is a game changer for the industry,” Mush Foods added.
It’s one of the main reasons why Yael Alroy, partner at Viola Ventures, invested in Mush Foods’ recent seed funding round. “To be a category leader in this space, a company must provide great flavour, price parity, and nutritional value,” she commented, adding that Mush Foods meets her criteria on “all three”.
Other investors who joined the round include food tech incubator TKH, CPG and F&B investor Siddhi Capital, and VC accelerator Arc Impact Ventures.
Daniel added: “We’ve found investors – including those who are strongly anti-meat – are committed to the welfare of the planet and animals and see the blended solution as an immediate and achievable means of reducing meat consumption.”
Cytisine, derived from plants, might just be the best natural alternative to widely used nicotine patches.
Yes, you read that right. Plant-based could be the superior option, not just in terms of our diets, but as a smoking cessation aid. Derived from plants, cytisine is a natural alkaloid compound found in the seeds of the golden rain tree, and doctors now say it can be twice as effective in breaking one’s smoking addiction.
This medicine has already been in use in central and eastern Europe, as well as in Asia, but is not yet widely available around the world. While cytisine recently gained regulatory approval in the UK, it is still not accessible in the US.
The new study, published in the journal Addiction, saw participants on cytisine twice as likely to succeed in quitting smoking compared to the placebo group. The Argentinian research team also tested another drug called varenicline, also known as Champix, as well as traditional nicotine replacement patches and gums.
“Cytisine increases the chances of successful smoking cessation by more than twofold compared with placebo and has a benign safety profile,” the team concluded. They added that “cytisine may be more effective than nicotine replacement therapy, with modest cessation rates.”
In total, the randomised controlled trials involved nearly 6,000 patients.
The lead author of the study, Dr. Omar De Santi, believes that this plant-based compound could be especially useful in poorer countries because of its low cost.
Low-cost solution
“It could be very useful in reducing smoking in low- and middle-income countries where cost-effective smoking cessation drugs are urgently needed,” he shared. “Worldwide, smoking is considered the main cause of preventable death [and] cytisine has the potential to be one of the big answers to that problem.”
Globally, tobacco users are primarily concentrated in low- and middle-income countries. According to data from the WHO, an estimated 80% of the 1.3 billion smokers worldwide live in these countries, where the burden of smoking-related diseases and death toll is also the heaviest.
Plant-based diets for overall health
Courtesy: Jannis Brandt via Unsplash
Aside from producing the natural compounds that could help smokers kick their bad habits, plant-based diets themselves have also proven to be a powerful tool in protecting one’s health—even if you’re a smoker.
In 2021, researchers from the University of Glasgow found that vegetarians and vegans had better biomarker scores compared to meat-eaters. Crucially, these findings were consistent despite participants’ weight, smoking and alcohol consumption.
“As well as not eating red and processed meat which have been linked to heart diseases and some cancers, people who follow a vegetarian diet tend to consume more vegetables, fruits, and nuts which contain more nutrients, fibre, and other potentially beneficial compounds,” explained paper author Dr. Carlos Celis-Morales.
“These nutritional differences may help explain why vegetarians appear to have lower levels of disease biomarkers that can lead to cell damage and chronic disease.”
Cereal giant WK Kellogg Co ventures into the vegan space with its new Eat Your Mouth Off cereal brand, in a bid to appeal to the snacking habits of Gen Z shoppers.
Eat Your Mouth Off, a new brand by US food giant WK Kellogg Co, is a plant-based, sugar-free and protein-packed cereal. Coming in two flavours, the brand’s launch comes as the company behind cereal staples like Corn Flakes and Rice Krispies makes a pivot towards health-conscious younger consumers.
Rolling out nationwide this month, the cereal puffs lists soy protein isolate, pea protein isolate, canola oil, lentil protein and oat fibre among its ingredients, and packs in 22 grams of plant protein per serving. It contains zero added sugars and 2 grams of net carbs, thanks to the use of sucralose and stevia leaf as its sweeteners. At the moment, the brand has two flavours, Chocolate and Fruity, both of which come in a 7.5-ounce box.
Courtesy: Eat Your Mouth Off
Vegan-friendly cereal
Unlike many of WK Kellogg Co’s products, the product is vegan-friendly and devoid of any dairy ingredients. Many of the corporation’s best-known cereal brands, such as Special K or Mueslix, contain added dairy, including whey powder, milk powder or yoghurt, making them not suitable for vegans either.
Furthermore, while WK Kellogg Co’s other well-known cereal brands like Bran Flakes, Frosted Flakes and Fruit & Fibre do not contain any dairy ingredients or honey, they are fortified with Vitamin D3 sourced from lanolin, a wax secreted sheep’s wool.
US-based food manufacturing company WK Kellogg Co was created when it split from multinational giant Kellogg’s in October 2023. Headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, the newly formed arm is a corporate spin-off that now runs all of Kellogg’s cereal business within North America.
The plans to split Kellogg’s operations were first announced in 2022 and also involved a separate entity exclusively for the snack category dubbed Kellanova.
Courtesy: Haley Owens on Unsplash
Gen Z snacking appeal
The launch of the product comes as WK Kellogg Co turns its attention to the younger generation of Gen Z shoppers and their increasingly health-conscious habits.
With old-school premier breakfast options becoming less popular, the company is reinventing the wheel to create a “deconstructed” new alternative aimed at capturing the fun yet conscious tastes of Gen Z. In Green Queen’s latest expert food trends of 2024, Gen Zs were described as the “snacking generation” who crave “variety and small portions…with functionality”.
“Almost all [brands] are developing new plant-based protein snack formats for a sustainably-minded younger generation looking for fuel on the go,” writes Sonalie Figuerias, founder and editor-in-chief of Green Queen.
Courtesy: Kenny Eliason via Unsplash
It’s no wonder WK Kellogg described the new Eat Your Mouth Off brand as “crafted especially for Zillennials” and “their unique personalities”. Unlike its traditional portfolio of sturdy breakfast options, this new label is intended to cater to Gen Z-ers who are more likely to consume cereals as part of a meal or snack, not just as a healthy start to their day.
“It’s been just a year since this team, driven by curiosity and a hunger for something new, began envisioning cereal not only as a nutritious option, but as a way to inject fun into your breakfast, snack, or meal experience,” shared senior marketing director Sadie Garcia, who highlighted the cereal’s high-protein content “that doesn’t sacrifice taste”.
2023 turned out to be a shaky year for investment into the climate tech space, though overall funding has remained on an uptrend since 2020.
A new report summarising the key investment trends in the climate tech industry has revealed a 30% year-on-year drop in funding in 2023. Overall, climate tech venture and growth investment reached just $32 billion, marking the first annual decline in the post-pandemic era.
Describing the market as having “hit pause” in the last year, analysts say the sector has now evolved into one “more focused on large-scale deployments that approach being bankable and boring”. The annual report was published by market intelligence firm Slightline Climate (CTVC), based on data from venture capital and growth equity deals publicly announced throughout 2023.
Slower growth in 2023, transport leads the way with 6 of 10 biggest deals of the year
Despite a notable peak in financing in the third quarter of the year, which reeled in $12.5 billion, funding in 2023 was in a notable decline compared to the previous years since 2020. Deal counts also decreased for the first time since 2020, with figures down 3% year-on-year.
The uptick in Q3 results is consistent with prior quarterly funding trends, but last year’s was mainly a result of mega-rounds such as the H2 Green Steel and Ascend Elements deals. Described as the “mega investment drivers”, the 10 largest deals across 2023 made up nearly a quarter (24%) of total annual climate investment.
These mega-rounds were dominated by the transport sector, bagging 6 of the top 10 deals. Batteries, a subfield of the industry, led the pack, with Northvolt raising $1.6 billion in two funding rounds to scale up battery production in Europe while US battery facility Redwood Materials secured $1 billion.
Along with the energy sector, transport and energy together bagged 60% of total investment since 2020.
Zooming in, the overall 30% drop in funding into climate tech was the result of fewer rounds and smaller sizes in the deals that did happen.
In 2023, the average deal size declined by 28% compared to the year before, while deal count fell by a smaller margin of 3%. There were fewer numbers of seed and series A rounds, down 12% and 11%, respectively. Even bigger drops were seen in later-stage deals, with series C and growth investment falling by 35% and 41%, respectively.
“Growth funding shrank as a share of overall funding, making up 39% of total funding in 2023, compared to its 50% share in earlier years,” the report states. “Many companies suffering valuation overhangs from previous earlier rounds are opting to extend runway and grow into their prior valuations rather than attempt to raise more large rounds.”
The primary reason for the sluggish numbers was rising interest rates and growing supply chain costs, which analysts believe made 2023 a difficult year for firms to kickstart production. In some cases, project cancellations occurred, further deterring investors from opening up their wallets in late-stage rounds.
Climate tech funding ‘down, but not out’
Though the numbers suggest a bleak future, analysts maintained an overall balanced outlook, attributing the trends to the broader economic landscape.
“In 2023, a challenging macro environment marked by higher interest rates and a cautious private investment market raised the hurdles for deployment,” the Sightline Climate report authors shared. “Now looking forward, interest rates are expected to come down, rules around policy incentives and regulation are emerging, and international competition has become a driving force for climate tech.”
If we look at the current figures against 2020 numbers, most verticals are still green, a sign of encouraging growth overall. Since 2020, around 2,600 climate tech firms have raised over $142 billion of venture funding across 4,156 deals.
Food and land use was the only sector where investment was lower in 2023 compared to three years ago. At the current rate, analysts believe that food and land use investment will be outstripped by industry in 1-2 years unless the space sees a major change of headwinds in favour of climate-friendly solutions for nature restoration and livestock.
Climate activity is still up: 36% increase in 2023
Another area of light is total activity rates, which jumped 36% from 1,910 active climate tech startups in 2022 to 2,589 by December 2023.
“So while total investment is down, activity in the climate ecosystem is way up,” says the report, which detailed the energy sector as one which saw the most movement.
Interestingly, deal activity is indicative of global emissions, which is not the case when we look at the actual amounts invested. In other words, activity in each climate tech sector is aligned with global emissions, while funding numbers showed a mismatch, with transport relatively overfunded and energy and industry being underfunded.
For example, transport is responsible for 15% of total GHG emissions, but reigned in roughly 37% of private funding for the last 3 years. Energy and industry, on the other hand, were underfunded mainly due to the slower pace of innovation in industrial decarbonisation, though these imbalances are slowly evening out in 2023.
“In 2023 we witnessed a positive tick in the right direction, with increased investment in Industry and in non-renewable Energy sectors such as Hydrogen and Energy Storage.”
Corporates buy-in, fewer repeat investors
According to the report, the number of investors who deployed capital on 5+ deals in 2023 declined by 25% year-on-year. This trend was consistent across all verticals and was a continuation of the negative repeat investor figures recorded in the 2022 annual report.
In 2023, the number of general climate investors went down by 4% to just 833 unique investors, with the biggest drop in investor interest in the food and land use sector.
Courtesy: Unsplash
Meanwhile, big corporates made a splash in headlines, demonstrating their huge buying power and bagging most of the leaderboard spots in the most active climate acquirers of the year.
Oil giant Shell, for instance, bought out 7 climate tech firms since 2021, including Davion, Daystar Power and Inspire Clean Energy. Its rival BP also bought 5 companies since 2020, including Archaea Energy, Amply Power, and Open Energi.
“Acquisitions are seen as a way for corporates to transition their offerings for the new climate economy,” commented the report authors.
Other major acquisitions include Schneider Electric’s buy-out of 4 tech companies in the energy, transport and climate management space, as well as Nasdaq’s investment into Metrio Software, Puro.earth and OneReport, all climate software names.
Aside from acquisitions, corporates also poured capital into late-stage and growth rounds, with Aramco Ventures launching a $1.5 billion Sustainability Fund and names like Microsoft appearing among the largest mega-rounds of the year.
Perfect Day, the pioneering animal-free dairy food tech which makes animal-free dairy from precision fermentation, says it has secured a pre-series E funding round of up to $90 million and announced that co-founders Ryan Pandya and Perumal Gandhi are stepping down from the company.
As first reported by AFN, Californian precision fermentation Perfect Day says it has just laid out its new profitability pathway plans and secured a new round of pre-series E financing worth up to $90 million. In addition, the company is bringing on a new executive team with current president TM Narayan named as interim CEO while a search for a permanent candidate is carried out.
The Urgent Company, founded in 2020 as a subsidiary of Perfect Day, has an umbrella of D2C brands under its belt, including the hit animal-free ice creams Brave Robot, cream cheese label Modern Kitchen, Very Dairy milk and protein powder brand California Performance Co. Perfect Day acquired cult ice cream company Coolhaus in 2021 and went on to launch animal-free dairy ranges under the brand in Singapore, Hong Kong and the US.
In August of last year after reported layoffs earlier in the summer, Perfect Day made headlines when it was reported that the company was exiting its consumer-facing business to refocus on core B2B operations, including the manufacture of animal-free whey protein, amidst fundraising efforts. Green Queen reported that Florida-based food tech company Superlatus had filed paperwork suggesting it was acquiring all of Perfect Day’s B2C operations, including the retail brands listed above, for $1.25 million. As of today, the sale itself has not been confirmed by the company.
The new round of funding was led by internal investors and AFN reports that it was done “in two parts, with the first part fully funded by existing investors; the company is finalizing additional capital from other investors now.”
Before the pre-Series E, Perfect Day previously raised over $750 million in funding.
New leadership team as founders exit
Having “de-risked its technology”, the firm said in a press release it will be zeroing in on its goal to scale up and “proving unit economics” for its pioneering whey protein made using precision fermentation technology.
TM Narayan | Courtesy: Perfect Day
Perfect Day’s founders Ryan Pandya (previously CEO) and Perumal Gandhi will step down from their operational and leadership roles as they “focus on future opportunities”. According to AFN, Pandya and Gandhi are also relinquishing their Board positions.
Taking over is a new executive team led by current president TM Narayan as interim CEO, alongside newly appointed co-chairs of the board Aftab Mathur of Temasek, and Patrick Zhang of Horizon Ventures. Both Temasek and Horizon Ventures have been major investors in the food tech since its early days.
“This has been a journey we could have only dreamed of when we first started this company in April of 2014. Because of the incredible people behind this business, we’ve de-risked world-changing technology, and we’ve brought it to life globally across over a dozen categories,” said Pandya. “Under TM’s interim leadership, Perfect Day is now in the right position for us to let the next chapter of leadership drive its path forward.”
A statement from the new interim CEO described the team as “laser-focused” on “securing a resilient future for the business and our planet.”
“It has been an incredible journey with Perfect Day to date,” Narayan added. “I’m excited to work even more closely with the company as it grows into its next chapter of impact,” added Patrick Zhang, Perfect Day co-chairman of the Board and Investor, Horizons Ventures.
Path to profitability
Courtesy: Perfect Day
With their change in priorities to centre Perfect Day within B2B channels, the company says it is now firmly focused on bigger industry-shifting deals ahead.
In a press release, Perfect Day says 2024 will be the year in which they plan to announce a “major CPG partner launch” as well as revealing “new molecules which will bring the impact of precision fermentation to more products and markets”.
Zhang, part of the new executive team as co-chair of the board, says this year will bring the company towards “its next chapter of impact”.
Meanwhile, Perfect Day’s D2C arm, which will soon be acquired by Superlatus, will continue to ramp up retail offerings for consumers. At the moment, the many brands and their products made with animal-free dairy proteins are sold in more than 6,000 stores in the US nationwide, including in some of the country’s largest stores like Costco and Kroger.
Outside of the US, animal-free dairy proteins have appeared on the shelves in Asia, in the form of sustainable dairy ice cream brand Coolhaus, which became a hit in both Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as Very Dairy, Asia’s first-ever milk drink made with precision fermentation whey.
Precision fermentation’s biggest year yet?
Courtesy: Perfect Day
These major moves by Perfect Day come in the wake of a major reckoning in the alternative protein space, with the precision fermentation pillar doubling down on its R&D and impact.
Having traditionally been the lesser-known sector in the alt-protein sphere, startups in this pillar have been slowly making more headlines throughout 2023. There are currently more than 64 companies using precision fermentation to create new sustainable and cruelty- and animal-free proteins. Manufacturing dairy proteins from precision fermentation requires far fewer global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) than conventional dairy, and even more so if the energy used were renewable. Further, the technology involves a fraction of the land use compared to livestock agriculture.
In 2023, famed New York City Michelin-starred restaurant Eleven Madison Park joined hands with The EVERY Company to bring hen-free eggs to the table for an exclusive dinner, while Israel’s Imagindairy became the third precision fermentation dairy firm to earn GRAS status from the US FDA. Last year was also the year where European firms working within the space, such as Bon Vivant and Vivici reeled in investments.
Aside from the major shakeup led by industry pioneer Perfect Day, the EU recently announced a €50M investment geared towards precision fermentation and algae-based food startups, with applications for funding opening in May this year.
Humans have evolved to extract from the planet to survive. But now, humans have reached a tipping point and our evolutionary pathway must change to prevent climate disaster.
In a new analysis, scientists at the University of Maine highlighted the urgent need for human evolution to change direction to prevent climate disaster. Over the years, humans have survived and evolved by extracting resources from the planet and “dominate the biosphere” but these cultural features “may stop our species from resolving global environmental problems like climate change”.
Led by evolutionary biologist and associate professor at UMaine Tim Waring, the team set out to explore the process of cultural adaptation to the environment and its impact on the issue of the climate. What the researchers found was described as “counterintuitive”.
The paper, published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B., traced human evolution over the last 100,000 years. Scientists found one common pattern, that human groups continued to expand their use of resources at greater intensity and scale over time—at the detriment of the planet.
Courtesy: NASA via Unsplash
Exploiting the planet for human advancement
The reason why humans prioritised the extraction of resources from Earth was because of its cultural value. It allowed humans to develop social systems and modern technology, such as agriculture, fishing, irrigation and energy.
“Human evolution is mostly driven by cultural change, which is faster than genetic evolution,” explained Waring. “That greater speed of adaptation has made it possible for humans to colonise all habitable land worldwide.”
Waring and his team also said that this process of human evolution was fuelled by a positive feedback loop. With greater numbers, the human population was able to scale and accumulate their cultural traits at record speed, thereby draining the planet of its resources at increasingly unsustainable rates.
“For the last 100,000 years, this has been good news for our species as a whole…but this expansion has depended on large amounts of available resources and space,” said Waring.
Evolution put our own safety in jeopardy
Fast forward to today, the team at UMaine says that human evolution has led us to test the physical limits of the biosphere.
One of the most destructive technologies humans have evolved to create was the industrial use of fossil fuels, which is now putting humanity itself in jeopardy due to its enormous climate and health impacts.
Courtesy: Galen Crout via Unsplash
What’s more is that human evolution tends not to create sustainable systems until it’s far too late. Drawing from examples where certain groups have managed to create sustainable human systems, Waring and his team said that these systems only emerge when a group fails to maintain their resources in the first place.
In addition, environmental protection only seems to arise within societies, rather than between different groups. This is another hurdle in the case of climate change, which is a global issue that transcends borders and will require cross-regional cooperation.
Solving climate change
According to the researchers, the only way out now is to change the path of our evolution. Instead of focusing on authority within groups, solutions must be forged between societies and economic systems to involve the whole planet.
“One problem is that we don’t have a coordinated global society which could implement these systems. We only have sub-global groups, which probably won’t suffice. But you can imagine cooperative treaties to address these shared challenges,” concluded Waring.
Courtesy: Tim Waring / UMaine
The team says the more complex hurdle for human evolution is to prevent “global human dieback” due to direct conflict as a result of resource competition.
“Global challenges like climate change are much harder to solve than previously considered. It’s not just that they are the hardest thing our species has ever done. They absolutely are. The bigger problem is that central features in human evolution are likely working against our ability to solve them. To solve global collective challenges we have to swim upstream,” explained Waring.
Hope lies in global cooperative governance
The paper’s authors believe that their findings lead to several policy recommendations. Firstly, efforts must be focused on forging peaceful and mutual “self-limitation” policies. These may come in the form of market regulation and binding treaties.
There also needs to be a range of bold international environmental policies to evoke action on a global scale, with the Montreal Protocol being a leading example of success when it comes to putting an end to ozone-depleting HFCs. Another instance where humanity has succeeded in protecting the environment is in the case of whaling, where global treaties have placed strict limits.
Waring additionally called for further research, as we have barely scratched the surface of what is described as humanity’s “evolutionary trap”.
“We don’t have any solutions…as we barely understand the problem,” he shared. “If our conclusions are even close to being correct, we need to study this much more carefully.”
Aside from cutting emissions, plant-based dietary change would also reduce air pollution.
There’s yet another reason to switch to a plant-based diet. This time, researchers have found that dietary change would lead to a major cut in ambient air pollution, which leads to a myriad of positive health and economic outcomes.
The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, revealed that shifting our current diets to plant-based diets would prevent up to 236,000 premature deaths associated with poor air quality.
Worldwide, 4 million people die prematurely each year due to outdoor air pollution, according to data from the WHO. Agriculture, which sustains our current food system, is driving a fifth of the annual deaths. In total, the global food system, which counts everything from production to consumption, represents one-third of human-made greenhouse gas emissions.
Courtesy: Unsplash
Less meat, better air quality & health
“Food production, especially of animal products, is a major source of methane and ammonia emissions which contribute to air pollution through the formation of particulate matter and ground-level ozone,” wrote the researchers.
“We show that dietary changes towards more plant-based flexitarian, vegetarian, and vegan diets could lead to meaningful reductions in air pollution with health and economic benefits.”
Using a multi-model approach, which examined agriculture, emissions, air quality, health and economic indicators, the team managed to estimate air-pollution-specific health and economic impacts in relation to global dietary change.
Courtesy: Megumi Nachev via Unsplash
If the world went flexitarian, which means minimal meat and dairy products with a focus on plant-based food, over 100,000 premature deaths would still be prevented. This number more than doubles to well over 200,000 if the world adopted a vegan diet, devoid of any meat and animal byproducts.
In areas where there is high population density and intensive agriculture, the impacts of plant-based dietary change would be even greater. Premature mortality would be reduced by 9-21% in Europe, 12-18% in North America, and 4-10% in Eastern Asia, in particular.
In addition to having clear benefits for human health in relation to lower air pollution, switching to a plant-based diet would also be a cost-effective way to reduce the economic burden of our environmental crises.
Shifting to a vegan diet would result in an increase in global GDP by more than 1% or US$1.3 trillion, the paper found.
“The diet-related improvements in air quality were associated with enhanced labour productivity, which impacts economic output,” wrote the team.
In a separate article, lead author of the study and senior researcher at the University of Oxford Marco Springmann, explained that plant-based diets additionally “lowers the need for expensive investments in emission-reducing equipment for livestock systems, such as scrubbers that remove ammonia from the air.”
“Eating less meat would also diminish the need for other, more drastic, measures to curb pollution,” he added.
In a new interview, Beyond Meat founder and CEO tells all about how he steers the world-famous plant-based startup, ups and downs be darned.
It’s no secret that Beyond Meat has had a difficult year or two. Since its IPO success back in 2019, the brand, as with much of the wider plant-based industry, has faced challenges in keeping sales and revenue up.
In 2023, the company went through what could have been its rockiest yet, with year-on-year sales slipping yet again to force job cuts that affected 8% of its staff. That’s after it already laid off 200 employees the prior year.
Despite disappointing figures, Ethan Brown, the man behind the vegan burger giant, is not backing down. The narrative shifted for Beyond Meat towards the end of the year with the release of its latest life-cycle assessment (LCA) results for its hero product—the third iteration of it. According to this new analysis, the Beyond Burger generates 90% fewer greenhouse gas emissions, uses 97% less land and water, and has now reduced the non-renewable energy burden to 37%.
Going forward, Brown has reiterated the firm’s commitment to sustainability, as well as health, with its recent advert zeroing in on the heart-healthy stamp its Beyond Steak got. That’s in keeping with the latest consumer trend, which has been critical of the ultra-processed nature of some plant-based alternatives.
All this is to say that Brown’s dedication to being at the helm of Beyond Meat has not wavered, in spite of the rollercoaster the brand has been on in the past few years. It’s a testament to his leadership style, which he shared more about in an interview on the Yahoo Finance series Lead This Way.
Below, we take a look at some of the key points raised in Brown’s conversation, detailing his belief in the plant-based mission, his motivation, how he steers an at-times shaky ship and more about his approach to leadership.
Courtesy: Beyond Meat
1) ‘We expected pushback’
As the founder and CEO of a startup against the big meat industry, Brown knew there would be pushback—and he made sure the team would know that and be ready for it. Obviously, being on the “receiving end of it” was difficult, but expecting it helped them stay centred”.
“We’re trying to do something that isn’t going to happen overnight,” he said. “I’d be dishonest if I said it hasn’t been challenging…if you look at history, you should expect this.” So to ensure they’d pull through, Brown said keeping a “great core team” who understood that was crucial.
2) Understand the consumer mindset
On a related note, another thing Brown made sure the team would understand was the consumer. Consumers’ minds are hard to change, and Beyond Meat is going up against that. Understanding what consumers ultimately crave helps the brand create the right product that could stand up against conventional meat.
“Unlike shifting from fax to digital communication, we’re not trying to change something that has been around for a couple hundred years,” he shared. “That’s why we’re not trying to change it. We’re providing consumers with a delicious alternative…providing a whole-muscle steak. Just [from] a different source of protein.”
Courtesy: Beyond Meat
3) A supportive team is key
As a founder, Brown says “it comes down to who you surround yourself with, whether it’s your team or the board.” On this issue, the CEO only had positive words to say about his team, despite the clear challenges Beyond Meat has faced. “They have been incredibly supportive and are seasoned enough to have a long-term view.”
4) Embrace a horizontal organisation
In terms of the way Beyond Meat is organised, Brown says he “embrace[s] a horizontal flow of value.” Unlike many other businesses Brown described as “vertical” with different departments in charge of various tasks, such as marketing or R&D, he is of the belief that “that’s not the way value flows”.
“Value flows from product ideation all the way through to the consumer,” he explained. “From a leadership perspective, it’s about how you teach people to think about the team as one single team, not as one department. It’s really the lean style of management. That’s the right way to run a business.”
Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown | Courtesy: Beyond Meat
5) Fail fast, fail often
Brown’s mindset as a leader boils down to this simple phrase: fail fast and fail often.
“We are going to move quicker than anyone else, and we’re going to fail and recover more quickly,” he shared passionately in the interview. “One of the challenges young people have is being dealt their first failure. It takes them a moment to realise that not delivering on something is not the end of the world, as long as we get back up and get it fixed…We need to get people comfortable with [it].”
6) Find your True North
It’s all about purpose, according to Brown. “First and foremost, you need your True North. We stay true to that True North, which in our case is to provide a plant-based meat which is indistinguishable from animal protein at the price that everyone can pay. You keep repeating and envisioning that, helping the team see that.”
With this sense of what Beyond Meat wants to accomplish, Brown said that his team “can get through anything.”
7) Urgency is key
Finally, Brown leads with urgency. He wants the team to feel like there is no better time than now to get going, whether it’s creating a new campaign or improving the product. “The moment you walk in the building, you should feel a sense of urgency.”
“You’re always going to be at the centre of it,” he added. “There’s always somebody working really hard…you should have a competitor mindset.” With competition always being at the forefront of the team, Brown believes it will drive speed and hard work. Why? Because it’s “tough to turn it off when your work is your mission”.
Be on the lookout for these brands turning mushrooms into juicy slabs of vegan meat.
When it comes to the top food trends to watch out for in 2024, almost every list mentions mushrooms. With its incredible textural properties as well as nutritional benefits, it’s no surprise that mushrooms are the powerhouse ingredient in many of the latest plant-based meat analogues.
While Time Magazine gave an honourable mention to roasted lion’s mane and shiitake bacon among many of Chef Todd Anderson’s mushroom-based creations in its food predictions list, Whole Foods Market trend-spotter Kantha Shelke boldly stated in Eat This that mushrooms will be “discover[ed]…in every food and beverage category and product developers will find ways to weave in ancient wisdom into new craveable food formats.”
Without further ado, let’s look at all the fun these seven vegan meat brands are having with fungi.
unClassic Foods
Courtesy: unClassic Foods
Founded in 2022 by food scientist Luiza Villela, unClassic Foods’ goal is to replace beef cattle with oyster mushrooms. “We don’t need to pretend to be meat,” the young startup’s mission statement reads. “We are cooler.”
Based in San Francisco, California, the company is poised to follow the David-and-Goliath story of oat milk vs. big dairy, reinventing the wheel with oyster mushroom ‘steak tips’ and even crispy fried ‘nuggets’ that resemble chicken. These products are pre-seasoned and pre-cooked, making it easy for consumers to reheat and eat. A few months ago, the startup showcased its products at The Good Food Institute’s GFC2023 conference in a Steak Biryani dish too.
Ultimately, Villela says she wants her oyster mushrooms to take centerstage, outstripping animal protein. “Mushrooms will be at the centre of the plate as the protagonist of the dish.”
Shroomeats
Courtesy: Shroomeats
Using upcycled shiitake mushrooms along with a handful of other vegan-friendly ingredients, Shroomeats has created a range of alternatives including mushroom balls, patties and ‘shred-it’ shredded “meat”. Founded by three women, Pamas, Dissaya, and Mary, the startup hopes to displace meat consumption and its associated negative health impacts.
Aside from shiitake mushrooms, the brand uses pea protein, sunflower oil, salt, pepper and potato flour to create its range of vegan alternatives. Their shiitake mushrooms are sourced from an organic community farm in Thailand and is free of all 8 major allergens too. At the moment, Shroomeats’ range is sold online within the US.
Fable
Courtesy: Fable Food
Another startup reimagining mushrooms is Fable. The Aussie company founded by food industry veterans Jim Fuller, Chris McLoghlin and Michael Fox is all about shiitake mushrooms, turning the uniquely umami-tasting fungi into a “fantastically meaty” alternative.
At the moment, the brand, which was one of the first to focus on whole mushroom alternatives, is available in thousands of restaurants and grocery stores, including in Australia, Canada, the UK and Singapore. Some of the most recognisable names include British health chains Planet Organic and Holland & Barrett, as well as burger joint Honest Burgers, Singapore’s SaladStop and Australian chain P’Nut Asian Kitchen.
As for the future, the startup, backed with a $8.5 million Series A in March last year, plans to further boost its R&D, accelerate its international growth and double down on its goal to make “minimally processed plant-based ingredients” popular.
The Mushroom Meat Co
Courtesy: Mushroom Meat Co
Founded by husband-and-wife duo Kesha Stickland and Dan Gardner, The Mushroom Meat Co is turning gourmet mushrooms into everything from porkless shreds to beefy burgers and beefy bites. Yet to be launched in the market, the company is focused on B2B sales and is even working on a mushroom-based ‘fat’ to mimic the fatty mouthfeel consumers love about conventional beef.
Aside from mushrooms, the company is using cold-pressed seed proteins, which are upcycled byproducts of industrial food production and is also free from the 10 major food allergens.
Adapt AgTech
Courtesy: Adapt AgTech
Indoor farming startup Adapt AgTech is doing something slightly different. Instead of producing mushroom alt-protein products, the Canadian vertical farming firm has created mushroom-growing shipping containers. These will be the powerhouses enabling everything from parking lots to logistical hubs into mushroom-growing locations, which allows restaurants and grocery shops to deliver mushrooms just steps away.
In these containers, you’ll find a range of speciality mushrooms, such as pink oyster, chestnut, pearl oyster, blue oyster, lion’s mane and king trumpet oyster mushrooms. All of these have different textural and mouthfeel qualities, making it a versatile ingredient to sustainably swap out meat without compromising on taste.
Last year, Adapt, also known as Heartee Foods, opened its very first shipping container in Austin, Texas in the US, and plans to continue expanding across locations in the country. “Our model is to create hyper-local farms in densely populated urban areas to reduce the distance from farm to fork,” CEO and founder Jonathan Murray toldTechCrunch in February.
Big Mountain Foods
Courtesy: Big Mountain Foods
Based in Vancouver, Canada, Big Mountain Foods is big on mushrooms. The women-owned and family-led brand creates its vegan and allergen-free range with mushrooms, and you’ll find veggie links, crumbles, burger patties, bites and more.
Other ingredients incorporated into the range include sunflower seeds, broccoli carrots, peas and chia seeds, and its use of mushrooms is plenty, from lion’s mane to shiitake. At the moment, the brand is sold in several major retailers, including Albertsons, Safeway, Walmart and Sprouts Farmers Market.
Tupu
Courtesy: Tupu
Tupu, a Berlin-based agtech company, is solving the mushroom production-and-transportation dilemma by enabling organic gourmet mushrooms to be grown directly in cities. Using modular farming technology, bioscience, IoT and AI, the startup helps make indoor gourmet mushroom farming economically viable.
Currently, Tupu’s portfolio of mushroom species includes king oysters, grey oysters, shiitakes, lion’s manes and yellow oysters, and they are keen to continue expanding their line-up in the years ahead with coral tooth, nameko and more. Armed with $3.2 million in seed funding which closed in October 2023, the urban farming company plans to get its mushrooms onto more plates across Europe via its B2B channel by partnering with restaurants.
At the moment, Tupu’s mushrooms can be found at a handful of Berlin restaurants, but will soon explore getting their products directly to consumers too.
New research highlights the beneficial role of plant-based diets that are high in protein and fat in slowing weight gain. Could it be a natural counter to now-popular weight management drugs?
Last year saw the astronomical rise of drugs like Ozempic, a medication originally prescribed to treat diabetes, but which was found to have significant weight-loss properties. The main active ingredient that appears to prevent weight gain or even induce major weight loss, semaglutide, works by mimicking the GLP-1 hormone, thereby reducing insulin resistance, prolonging the feeling of fullness and curbing appetite.
But as the year went on and the popularity of Wegovy and other weight loss-specific semaglutide-drugs became all the rage on social media, so did the reported number of side effects of the drug. These included nausea, stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhoea.
Now, a new study is showing that there might be a natural alternative. Plant-based diets that focus on protein and fats, and are low in carbohydrates, might just be the prescription-free answer to keeping the pounds off in the long term.
What’s a low-carb vegan diet?
Courtesy: Olena Bohovyk via Unsplash
Scientists at Harvard University found that low-carb vegan diets, which are mainly made up of plant-based proteins and fats and minimal refined starches and sugars, could play a “critical role in modulating long-term weight change.”
The study, published in the journal JAMA, included more than 120,000 participants and involved self-reported diet updates and weight changes every four years, spanning from the year 1986 to 2018.
While these vegan diets were low in carbohydrates, they weren’t devoid of them either. Sources of healthy carbs included those “from whole grains and other plant-based foods”.
Most interestingly, the team found that not all low-carb diets were effective in managing weight gain in the long term. While almost all low-carb diets were associated with some level of weight loss in the short term, only the primarily plant-based group was “significantly associated with slower long-term weight gain”.
“The key takeaway here is that not all low-carbohydrate diets are created equal when it comes to managing weight in the long-term,” explained the paper’s senior author Qi Sun, associate professor in the Department of Nutrition.
“Our findings could shake up the way we think about popular low-carbohydrate diets and suggest that public health initiatives should continue to promote dietary patterns that emphasise healthful foods like whole grains, fruits, vegetables.”
These findings come at a time when boosting GLP-1 is a major area of interest as a solution to managing weight gain. The hormone has come into focus due to the rise of Ozempic and other GLP-boosting semaglutide pharmaceutical drugs as a weight management tool.
It could be that GLP-1 boosting diets may be an effective natural solution by itself, with the Harvard study showing the promise that low-carb vegan diets could have.
One of the reasons why the plant-based cohort in the study could have seen a slower weight gain trend could be because many vegan whole foods are rich in gut-healthy fibre, which provides satiety and has been shown to increase GLP-1 secretion. High-protein and high-fibre vegan foods deliver a double dose of this effect, such as legumes and beans. Avocado, a fruit loaded with heart-healthy fats and fibre, also activates the hormone.
Shanghai is surprisingly full of great vegan eats! While Buddhist-inspired vegetarian food has long been a cradle of Shanghainese food culture, the city has seen more new modern plant-based offerings appear of late.
From high-end veggie fine dining to casual bowls of dumplings served on the side street or modern eateries with burgers and wraps, Shanghai is for sure friendly to vegans! Are you ready to taste all the delicious dumpling noodle soups that Shanghai has to offer? Below is Green Queen’s guide to the best vegetarian and vegan restaurants in China’s financial hub.
Source: HappyCow
1. Hui Yuan Vegetarian Restaurant
Hui Yuan Vegetarian Restaurant is a vegan Chinese restaurant full of meat-free Shanghainese classics. The no-frills diner is usually crowded, a testament to their delicious menu. Most of the food contains mock meats with an array of fresh vegetables cooked in all ways – braised, stir-fried, steamed. And don’t miss out on tasting the dumplings Shanghai is famous for, meat-free of course!
Address: Hui Yuan Vegetarian Restaurant, 49 Huaihai East Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai, China. Open Daily: 11.00am – 9.00pm.
Source: TripAdvisor
2. If Vegan
If Vegan is an all-vegan restaurant serving fusion dishes inspired by both Western and Chinese cuisine. Part coffee bar, part flower shop and part restaurant, If Vegan is the ideal place to drop by for a plant-based meal when you have some time and need a place to hang out. You will find some classic Shanghainese tofu-based dishes on their menu, as well as a range of healthy international fare, from salads to pastas.
Address: If Vegan, 408 Shaanxi Bei, Jing An District, Shanghai, China. Open Daily: 11.00am – 9.00pm.
Source: TripAdvisor
3. Jujube Tree
If you’re looking for more veganised Shanghainese food, then check out Jujube Tree, a vegetarian restaurant with many animal-free options. They have an extensive menu comprised of many modern dishes, featuring ingredients like wild mushrooms, mock meats, tofu, seitan and yams. Make sure to try the visitor-fave: Deep Fried Monkey Head Mushroom with Satay Sauce. Yum!
Craving Mexican cuisine in the middle of Shanghai? Don’t fret – Maya, a Mexican-Californian restaurant is the perfect spot to get your salsa and mole fix. Though the restaurant does serve meat, it does have an entirely separate vegan menu catering to plant-based folk. Expect Lentil Enchiladas, Veggie Fajitas, Mushroom Tacos, and more. Oh, and don’t forget to try dairy-free ice cream for dessert.
Address: Maya, 568 Julu Road, Grand Plaza, 2/F Clubhouse, Shanghai, China. Open Weekdays: 5.00pm – late; Weekends: 11.00am – 4.00pm.
Source: HappyCow
6. Wu Jie
Another upmarket restaurant suitable for a romantic dinner date is Wu Jie. They offer various set menus comprised of completely meat-free Chinese dishes presented with a creative modern twist and using only seasonal fresh ingredients. The restaurant has been featured on the Michelin Guide before and is highly popular, so make sure to book ahead. While Wu Jie is vegetarian, they are happy to accommodate fully plant-based diners if you call ahead. Bonus for Buddhists: the menu is entirely leek- garlic and allium-free.
From greenlabelling to greenlighting: here’s a guide to greenwashing vocabulary in all its shapes and forms, as well as examples to help you spot them.
So you’ve heard of greenwashing. But there’s a whole host of ways companies are making dubious claims about their sustainability credentials, ranging from slight exaggerations to downright fake news.
These terms were identified by think tank Planet Tracker in a report titled The Greenwashing Hydra, published earlier this year aimed at making it easier for us all to spot the “many-headed beast” that greenwashing has become in recent years.
While these greenwashing practices are not always illegal, they are ultimately used to mislead the public, consumers and investors about companies’ sustainability credentials, and thereby slowing down the need for speed and real action to combat the climate crisis.
Image: Unsplash
1. Greencrowding
Greencrowding is when brands stay hidden within the crowd to avoid having their unsustainable practices spotted. According to Planet Tracker, these companies are often the “slow movers” when it comes to developing eco-friendly policies. Analysts at the think tank describe this type of greenwashing as “particularly clever” because it is easy to conflate the large numbers associated with alliances on environmental issues with real impact.
Example: One instance of greencrowding cited by Planet Tracker is The Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW), which is in fact linked to petrochemical giants and whose members have not removed or recycled 99.9% of their own plastic waste. As this instance shows, this is a safety-in-numbers strategy.
Greenhushing happens when companies underreport their sustainability performance. By doing so, brands are hoping to reduce the likelihood of garnering scrutiny from investors. It’s one of the more sophisticated forms of greenwashing out there, and it’s harder to spot than more outright examples. Corporate management might also use greenhushing to make the company appear more sustainable than their guidelines suggest officially on paper, thereby gaining a green valuation uplift without having to go through stricter due diligence and scrutiny.
Example: BlackRock and HSBC, among others, have downgraded their sustainable investment funds, also known as Article 9 funds, to Article 8. Under the new classification, these funds are not subject to sustainable investment as their top objective, but rather support a “light green” approach to promote ESG characteristics.
Image: Unsplash
3. Greenshifting
Greenshifting refers to the act of shifting blame. Companies might shift the responsibility onto consumers to be more sustainable and reduce their own individual footprint, rather than having to take meaningful action at the corporate or brand level. Often, it takes the form of brands referencing consumer demand, and in doing so, shifting the blame to what the market supposedly wants or dictates and that their own operations are merely acting in response to meet wider demand. As consumers are getting increasingly savvy with identifying greenwashing practices, this type of greenwash is becoming more rare, as it is one of the more obvious forms to shout out.
Example: Oil giant Shell asked what consumers would individually do to reduce their carbon footprint in November 2020. Similarly, BP launched a “Know Your Carbon Footprint” campaign back in October 2019, asking people to “know where they stand” using their carbon calculator.
Source: Planet Tracker
4. Greenlabelling
Greenlabelling describes a marketing tactic that implies a product is “green” or sustainable, but is a misleading—mislabelled—claim. It can also include marketing techniques that make a product appear more eco-friendly, such as green packaging or include deceptive descriptions and sustainable buzzwords. According to Planet Tracker, this type of greenwashing is currently the most pervasive, so much so that the European Commission has already called out the issue as a major problem, saying that it is “difficult…to makes sense of the many environmental labels and initiatives” available today.
Example: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines claims their carbon credit program, CO2ZERO, helps their customers offset the impact of their flight. The airline is now being sued for this misleading claim, with the lawsuit alleging KLM has provided no credible evidence that its program fully offsets the environmental impact of flying.
Greenrinsing happens when a company constantly changes its ESG targets right before they are achieved. Companies may also change the parameters and deadlines of previously set-out ESG goals in order to evade scrutiny. It’s a more sophisticated form of greenwashing and has become increasingly common as companies race to set out their sustainability claims and metrics in recent years, with many of these bold targets sounding too good to be true.
Example: PepsiCo adjusted their recycling targets right before the target date, pushing forward the deadline. Over the past 5 years, the company has moved its goalposts 3 times, according to Planet Tracker’s “Soda-pressing” report.
Image: ASA
6. Greenlighting
Greenlighting refers to advertisements or corporate communication that highlights a green aspect—no matter how small—of a brand in order to reduce exposure to the other not-so-sustainable parts of a company’s operations. In other words, it dims the light on the ways a company could actually be causing damage to the planet.
Example: HSBC spotlighted their US$1 trillion in net-zero financing and initiative to plant 2 million trees in several advertisements ahead of COP26. However, the bank has been called out for their greenlighting posters that omit its huge contribution to carbon emissions in other aspects of its business in a recent ruling by the ASA, the UK’s ad regulator.
An overwhelming majority of consumers in the US now believe that food businesses need to prioritise social and environmental responsibility.
So says a new report based on polling data from over 33,000 American food and grocery shoppers last year. Results showed that an increasing number of people are switching to brands due to perceived sustainability benefits.
Sustainability is key, especially for younger shoppers
Sustainability is an increasingly important consideration for shoppers in the food and grocery industry in the US, finds a new report by online research firm Glow. 70% of consumers now perceive environmental responsibility as “more important” compared to two years ago, while over half said sustainability is “very important”. Overall, over 90% see eco-friendliness as a key decision criteria in their food purchases.
The report also found that 64% of consumers in the US are willing to pay steeper prices for products that have a social impact, such as providing support for communities and causes that help vulnerable groups. In addition, nearly 8 in 10 said that they are more loyal and likely to make repeat purchases from these “purpose-driven” brands.
Sustainability-wise, the main issues consumers take note of when making food and grocery decisions include emissions reduction, protection of natural resources, and wildlife conservation.
The importance of sustainability is sharper among younger shoppers. While one-third of all Americans believe it is “very important” for brands to behave responsibly, the figure rises to 40% among Gen Z and millennials. In fact, the latter group now rank ESG concerns among their top 3 purchase drivers, with 10% of millennials placing this factor as their number one issue, ahead of product price and quality.
The data is based on Glow’s survey data from 33,000 US consumers between April and December 2022, as well as NielsenIQ’s product data and consumer panel insights. It has been published in Glow’s 2023 US Brand Sustainability Benchmark Report.
Similar findings about the importance of ESG, particularly with younger shoppers, were published in a recent EIT-Food commissioned study. It found 78% of those aged 18-24 believe that the current food system is not sustainable enough and a major cause of the climate crisis.
Eco-friendly brands make more money
Companies that perform highly on ESG have seen sales soar, according to the report. Glow’s Social Responsibility Score (SRS) tracks brands’ performance across 13 ESG metrics and also draws on consumers’ opinions of companies. A positive correlation between SRS and revenue growth was found.
Data showed that a two-point lead on the SRS scale corresponds to a 1% increase in revenue growth over 3 years, the data shows.
“Those who are leading in consumers’ minds are already reaping the commercial benefits and are best placed for future success,” shared Julia Collins, founder and CEO of Planet FWD. “It is vitally important for companies to contribute to supporting society and the planet…doing so is more than the right thing to do, it is good for business.”
Some of the brands named as the most responsible among US consumers include Dawn, Seventh Generation, and Love Beauty And Planet.
Similar results were obtained in NielsenIQ’s research, which showed that brands that convey a sustainability message on their product packaging have an annual growth rate that is 1.7% points faster than less eco-forward brands.
Image: Seventh Generation
Cost is still an obstacle
While consumers are taking note of brands’ planetary impact more than ever before, one key barrier is price. Sustainable products are often more expensive, and the cost of living crisis has meant some consumers have been prioritising price over quality or eco-friendliness.
According to Glow’s survey, 70% of US consumers are “actively switching F&G brands to save money”. This is happening across all product departments, with over 6 in 10 reportedly “switching all/almost all” items in their baskets.
Some segments are less susceptible to trading down, with baby care topping the list of products consumers aren’t willing to compromise on in terms of quality, despite rising costs. This corresponds to the importance consumers place on transparency within the baby care department, whereas plastic waste is ranked a more important issue for household items.
In order to stay competitive amid an inflationary environment, analysts at Glow say that brands must “stand for something”. The report found that half of US shoppers have either started or stopped using a brand based on a company’s ESG behaviour, and that these practices are more prevalent among millennials with children.
Overall, the top ESG performing food and grocery brands as measured by Glow’s SRS are pulling in new customers from these purchase “switches” at twice the rate compared to the average across all tracked brands.
“All consumers are looking for ways to save money,” explains Mike Johnston, managing director of data products at Glow. “They will need a compelling reason why they shouldn’t walk away from your brand for a cheaper alternative.”
One of the ways in which brands stand out to consumers is their on-pack messaging.
“Consumers want to hear about what brands are doing to support people and the planet. And they want that information through credible sources, including close to point of purchase: on-pack and through digital discovery on retailer sites,” shared NielsenIQ’s VP of Total Wellness Sherry Frey. “Brands doing that well can be seen as sustainability leaders and reap the benefits in terms of growth.”
Still a way to go to meet sustainability expectations
While there has been a major push in the industry to move towards more sustainable practices, there remains room for growth and improvement in consumers’ eyes.
“The largest opportunity gap for brands in the US F&G industry exists in the environmental drivers,” states the report. “They are the most important but consumers are the least satisfied with the industry’s overall performance across them.”
According to Glow’s findings, over 30% of US shoppers are still unsatisfied with brands’ performance across the board on all environmental factors. The driver that shoppers see the most room for improvement is in emissions reduction and climate change, as well as wildlife protection, followed by supplier welfare in the governance sphere of ESG.
All images courtesy of Unsplash, unless otherwise credited.
With China’s U-turn on its “zero-Covid” policy and the Lunar New Year just around the corner, a boom in carbon-intensive meat consumption is highly likely.
For the rest of the world, 2022 was marked by a return to the pre-pandemic “normal”. But China, unlike the rest of the world, pushed on with its inward “zero-Covid” policy, which many saw as a negative sign of Chinese demand for global goods. In November 2022, the country reported its worst import and export numbers in over two years. That’s bad news for almost all industries, including the meat sector, which largely expected Chinese consumption to remain stagnant, given what seemed like an unlikely chance the country would ease out of its strict Covid rules anytime soon.
Amid the dire outlook over China’s zero-tolerance approach, the USDA reported in September 2022 that it expected the country’s meat demand to fall by 3% in the year ahead, which would translate to a drop in Chinese beef imports by over 19%. Poultry is forecast to remain largely flat, with one recent industry trade publication suggesting Chinese chicken producers could “look forward to little or no growth” in 2023.
But just one week before 2023, China made a big U-turn announcement. Following weeks of widespread protests driven by Covid lockdown fatigue, China is now re-entering the world stage. From January 8, 2023, quarantines have been abandoned and all border restrictions dropped.
Lunar New Year festivities and “revenge spending” in post-pandemic era China could lead to surging demand for meat. (Image: Unsplash)
Double whammy: Post-pandemic revenge spending and New Year indulgence
Coupled with the Lunar New Year festivities underway this month, which typically means lavish dinner tables (food waste in Chinese households typically rises by 20% during the holiday), China’s reopening could prompt a serious frenzy for all goods—including meat. In its newsletter about what to watch in food in 2023, Bloomberg specifically called out the country’s restrictions turnaround, writing that Chinese consumers will regain the confidence to dine out and travel and this will result in a big jump in demand.
Demand could be pushed even higher due to “revenge spending”, the flurry to splurge after a years-long period of isolation for many Chinese consumers. While expert consensus mainly focuses on cosmetics and personal care as the primary sectors set to benefit the most from the pent-up demand, post-pandemic China will likely see meat sales rise. Lunar New Year dinner tables typically feature whole chickens and fish, and with family reunions taking place after a prolonged period of food service shutdowns, many may opt to celebrate with extravagant meat-centric restaurant menus.
Dan Wang, Hang Seng Bank China’s chief economist, expects “catering, tourism, entertainment…[to] be among the first to revive.”
“After nearly three years of financial and psychological stress due to the intermittent pandemic control measures…The upcoming Chinese New Year festival celebrations will be a bellwether for consumer sentiment and business confidence,” says GlobalData consumer analyst Bobby Verghese.
US meat producers and industry traders are already on the lookout for the lucrative opportunity the crossover between China’s U-turn and the Year of the Rabbit. In one latest forecast, Dennis Smith, commodities broker of Archer Financial Services, says that while the country may be battling widespread infections at the moment, as soon as it “gets on the backside of the pandemic, the pent-up demand for pork and beef is likely to soar.”
Similar hopes came from US Meat Export Federation communications director John Herath, who described the lifting of China’s Covid restrictions as “tremendous news for red meat demand.”
Andrew Leung, co-founder of Good Food Technologies, a startup that produces plant-based pork meat and products told Green Queen that while “meat consumption has decreased over Covid times due to economic pressures and price fluctuations”, he believes “meat consumption might increase as the economy picks up.”
The meat industry is expecting “tremendous” demand from China in the months ahead. (Image: Unsplash)
More meat, more carbon emissions
A boom in demand for meat in the world’s second-largest country would further threaten the current global climate goals.
While Chinese per capita consumption of meat is still at roughly half of that of richer Western countries like the US and Europe, the country’s huge mid-income population and its rising appetite for meat has propelled it to the top of global tables: China is the world’s largest meat consumer by volume. According to the United Nations FAO data in 2022, Chinese supply of poultry, pork, beef and mutton reached 75.5 million tons, surpassing that of the US at 50.1 million tons.
This will translate to huge costs for our climate, given animal livestock accounts for “at minimum” 16.5% of all global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a 2021 paper.
If global levels of meat consumption continue unabated—never mind a potential surge in demand in the months ahead—we’re looking at livestock farming taking up nearly half of the entire carbon budget needed to meet the 2°C and 1.5°C climate targets by 2030.
Chinese appetites have also been shifting away from pork and towards more carbon-intensive beef in recent years, a trend prompted by African swine fever-related supply issues.
Chinese consumers in top-tier cities are slowly adopting more plant-based meat alternatives in their diet. (Image: Zhenmeat)
Although China’s plant-based population remains small, flexitarianism and the adoption of sustainable alternative proteins are on the rise.
The Asian giant is one of the fastest-growing markets for the alt-protein industry, with one 2021 report expecting as much as 200% growth in demand by 2026. A more recent survey in late 2022 has found that 60% of middle-income consumers in urban areas in China, most of them omnivores, are now trying plant-based meat.
According to the poll undertaken by market research firm Good Growth, Chinese consumers mainly cite health, taste, and a “cool factor” as their reasons for reducing their meat intake.
Leung is optimistic about the plant-based meat sector in China and agrees that taste is king: “people are willing to try as long as it tastes good.”
Multiple studies from around the world agree: sustainability messaging on menus is successful in getting more diners to order plant-based meals.
Scientists have warned that global meat and dairy intake must fall if we are to combat the climate crisis, but facilitating this widespread shift in dietary patterns remains a huge hurdle. New research from various studies conducted around the world suggests that conveying the sustainability aspect of food choices is key to persuading diners to opt for low-carbon plant-based meals.
‘High impact’ climate labels reduce beef orders
The newest study emerging from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health finds the addition of climate impact labels on fast food menus had a “strong effect” on diners’ choices. Published online in JAMA Network Open on December 27, researchers concluded that both high and low climate impact labels led to a substantial decline in carbon-intensive red meat selections among the more than 5,000 participants involved in the US-based study.
High impact carbon labels were effective in reducing the number of beef orders. (Image: Unsplash)
Participants were split into three groups, with each receiving different sample burger menus that had either “high impact” on beef items, “low impact” on vegetarian, fish and chicken items, or no climate labels, respectively. The “high impact” group saw the most drastic reduction in beef choices (23%) compared to the control group, while “low impact” labels still had a modest effect (10%).
Animal agriculture is responsible for around 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, with beef being the most taxing on the climate. Due to its high land use, feed-intensive nature and methane released into the atmosphere, raising cattle alone accounts for one quarter of the world’s total food emissions.
“Menu labelling, particularly labels warning that an item has high climate impact, can be an effective strategy for encouraging more sustainable food choices in a fast food setting,” explains lead author and Associate Professor Julia Wolfson, PhD.
These findings mirror that of a separate UK-based study published just months prior in the journal Behavioural Public Policy in October. Conducted by researchers at Bristol University, the results showed that “traffic light” ratings indicating the climate-friendliness of menu items “significantly increased” the selection of sustainable plant-based dishes.
Not just effective: many diners prefer eco-label menus
More than 1,300 adults were recruited and were given different sample food delivery app menus containing three burrito dishes, each featuring information about its environmental impact, calories, and spiciness level. All three burrito options, beef, chicken and vegetarian, were the same price.
Vegan burrito. (Image: Unsplash)
While the control group who were given a regular menu saw around one-third opting for the carbon-intensive beef burrito, those who were given a menu that featured eco-labels saw beef orders drop to 16%. Eco-label menus led to 14% choosing the vegetarian option, while the control group saw just 9% make the same decision to go veggie.
Climate labels weren’t just effective in promoting plant-based choices. Interestingly, the study also concluded that consumers seem to be open-minded about having menus featuring environmental information.
“Somewhat surprisingly, participants were positive about the eco-label, with a huge 90% of participants supporting the idea,” said lead author and Research Associate Katie De-loyde. “Our results suggest future policy could include mandatory eco-labeling…on food products as a way to promote more sustainable diets.”
Consumer understanding of sustainable eating is key
Part of why climate labels have proven successful is likely down to the fact that many consumers simply lack the knowledge about what eating sustainably means.
Another study, published in the journal Appetite on December 13, finds the majority of Britons—particularly the younger generation—are willing to make eco-friendly changes but are “prevented from doing so” due to uncertainty about specific swaps they should make.
“We were surprised by our findings,” shares Bournemouth University Professor of Psychology Katherine Appleton, who led the research. “People seem to understand [living sustainably] can mean taking fewer flights, using the car less, recycling more, but it seems that not everyone is aware of the difference that changing their diet can make as well.”
“We had originally intended [to look] at how we can encourage people to eat more foods such as beans and pulses, but we discovered that people still don’t know enough about why this is important, so to talk about increasing the consumption of specific foods is getting too far ahead for many,” she added.
The team, which based their conclusions on a series of interviews with young people of varying cooking abilities and households, recommends that greater focus must be placed on raising public awareness about sustainable eating and the effect food choices have on the planet.
Menus featuring climate impact information increased the number of vegetarian orders. (Image: Unsplash)
The willingness of consumers to make eco-friendly food swaps is evident not just in the UK, but in other areas of the world too. The latest 2022 EAT Forum report saw a majority of respondents to a GlobeScan poll perceive responsible food purchases as important to them. Nearly 30,000 adults were surveyed across 31 countries, among them Vietnam, Colombia, South Korea and Sweden. 45% indicated that environmentally-friendly food choices were “very important”, while 44% described it as “somewhat important”.
This illustrates a change in attitudes compared to a few years ago, with one Hong Kong survey conducted in 2017 finding that diners in the city did not regard sustainability as their top priority when it came to their menu choices.
Polling around 1,200 adults, the research team hailing from the city’s Polytechnic University, Texas A&M University and the University of Nevada in the US wrote: “Relative to nutritional information, respondents paid less attention to sustainability information” and “attach[ed] lesser value to the provision of information about environmentally friendly and low carbon ingredients that emanate from sustainable sources.”
Could we ‘nudge’ reluctant diners in the right direction?
When it comes to persuading the hardiest carnivores or those reluctant to “go all-in” to eliminate their meat consumption, the idea of “nudging” might work. That’s another way eco-labels do come in handy, according to one Ghent University study.
The colour green is an effective “nudge” to signal that a product or dish is sustainable. (Image: Unsplash)
The research, which was first published in the journal Proceedings of The Nutrition Society in 2019, concluded that gentle interventions like climate information on menus do motivate sustainable choices without alienating consumers by virtue of still providing the option of less planet-friendly items. Diners may feel “anticipated pride” when they choose plant-based dishes that have been labelled as eco-friendly, and even negative feelings of guilt if they are aware that a certain item is taxing on the climate.
These “nudges” might even come in the form of non-language-based communication. A more recent piece of research also conducted in Belgium showed that colours could be used to alert consumers about whether a packaged food item or product is sustainable or not. This study was first made available online in the journal Appetite on December 21.
When it comes to cultivated meat, these ten governments are the most active in terms of funding, regulatory frameworks and research resources.
Cultivated meat is one of the key food solutions in our climate crisis-fighting arsenal. There are now over 100 startups globally working on this technology and 2022 saw some huge strides in the sector, from the largest funding round ever recorded to key product firsts.
As pundits continue to debate the topic of whether cultivated meat will become a common reality (It can’t scale! It definitely will scale!), one major issue that needs more attention is government support. From policy to subsidies, more needs to be done to boost the industry. Certain forward-thinking governments are making moves in terms of regulation and government funding, both of which are largely seen as the crucial next step to finally getting sustainable protein grown using cellular agriculture to diners’ plates. From regulatory updates in the US to more greenlights from Singapore authorities, we take a look at the ten most active governments across the globe that are helping to make cultivated meat a reality.
Editor’s Note: While this list focuses on countries that have allocated the most funds and/or made the biggest regulatory moves, this list is not exhaustive. There are a handful of other countries that are pushing ahead with regulatory frameworks and economic support- a few to watch include South Korea, India, Canada and the United Arab Emirates.
Source: Emerging Proteins NZ – September 2022 Report
1) Singapore
Singapore famously became the world’s first country to approve the sale of cultivated meat in December 2020 when it gave the go-ahead for Eat Just’s chicken nuggets. It has since approved a slew of the food tech’s products, including chicken breast, as well as a food processing license to Esco to manufacture foods using cell-ag tech. Aussie firm Vow says it is also expecting Singapore regulators to give the go-ahead for its cultivated quail soon. Cultivated meat products are approved by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) on a case-by-case basis, with producers submitting safety assessments to grant pre-market approval.
Aside from setting up its regulatory framework, which has been continually revised (four times and counting) to include new feedback from industry stakeholders, Singapore’s government has also poured money into the sector as part of its ‘30% by 2030’ local food production goal. Now housing an entire batch of homegrown startups like Shiok Meats, and foreign startups like Eat Just and Hong Kong’s Avant who have chosen the city as its Asia base, Singapore is likely to continue its lead in paving the way for global cultivated meat adoption.
Good Meat chicken.
2) Israel
Israel is another global leader in the cultivated industry, with its Innovation Authority demonstrating clear support with its latest $18M injection into a nationwide cultivated meat consortium. The group is made up of 14 companies and 10 universities and research bodies in the country. Aside from research funding, the government has also poured public funds into the sector, contributing over $13M to early-stage startups and infrastructure to the overall alt-protein industry.
Aleph Farms’ thin-cut beef steak.
3) United States
The US is making moves towards approving the sale and consumption of cultivated meat, which will likely come in 2023. Industry watchers are eyeing the milestone after California’s Upside Foods got through the first hurdle. In November, the startup received FDA GRAS status for its cultivated chicken, becoming the first American company to have its products deemed safe to eat. This is the initial pre-market step of the country’s joint framework to regulate cultivated meat products, with the USDA then in charge of the processing, packaging and labeling steps for certain products which fall under its oversight.
In terms of funding, the US government has backed the sector in several different ways. Most notably, the USDA awarded a $10M grant in 2021 to Tufts University for the creation of a new National Institute for Cellular Agriculture, which was the first-ever government-funded research project. The Biden administration doubled down on its promise to support alt-proteins in September 2022: the biotech program includes funding for “foods made with cultured animal cells”. More assistance came in the way of the administration’s Global Food Security Research Strategy released in October, as part of Biden’s plan to end hunger and foster food resilience.
Upside Foods chicken.
4) European Union
For cultivated meat products to be sold in the EU, regulators at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will have to test the products as with any other novel foods. In addition to a pre-market safety evaluation, cultivated meat products that may use genetically modified ingredients will need to comply with the region’s GM foods regulations.
While the EU’s food safety rules are among the world’s most stringent, which may mean a slower pace for cultivated products to reach the market, the region is investing in the sector as part of its climate plan. In 2020, the EU’s Farm to Fork strategy included alternative proteins as a “key area of research” for a “fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system”, a sentiment lawmakers doubled down on within its 2021 Strategic Foresight Report. The EU’s core innovation and research funding program Horizon Europe also mentioned cultivated meat and seafood as one out of three of its core pillars, with around €7M set aside specifically for the sector. This means more money going into projects that will help make cultivated meats more cost-efficient, such as the necessary infrastructure and materials or ingredients, and scale-up efforts.
Mosa Meat burger.
5) EU powerhouses: The Netherlands and Norway
Within the EU, some of the leading governments accelerating cultivated meat includes the Netherlands, which has injected €60M into the Cellular Agriculture Netherlands consortium, and Norway, where authorities have set up a five-year research project into cellular agriculture with €2M in annual public funding.
Government funding into the overall alt-protein sector (includes plant-based, precision fermentation). Source: Open Philanthropy Farm Animal Welfare Newsletter
6) United Kingdom
Right now, the UK will require any cultivated meat products to go through pre-market authorization from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) as with any other “novel foods” in order to be sold on the market. There have been some signs that a novel regulatory framework “distinct” for cultivated foods could be on the horizon, with one government policy paper suggesting that adopting these changes would be a part of the country’s successful post-Brexit economic plan.
Ivy Farm sausages.
Some public funding has been injected into the industry, with the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) awarding £14M to nearly a dozen projects in May this year, one of which is the Royal Agricultural University’s research into transitioning livestock farmers towards cultivated meat. Previously, the UKRI has backed London-based Multus Biotech, a startup focused on developing cost-effective animal-free growth media to help scale cultivated meat production.
7) Australia and 8) New Zealand
In Australia and New Zealand, regulators say their existing Novel Foods Standard will already be able to accommodate foods made through cell-ag tech. This will include cultivated foods that may have used genetic modification technology, which will have to comply with additional regulations. Companies will have to submit their application to the FSANZ for pre-market approval. The capability of the existing standards and labeling requirements to cope with new cultivated meat products was accepted at the Food Ministers Meeting (FMM) in November 2022.
Japan is poised to see a new regulatory framework for cultivated meat, with its government stating it has already put together an expert team to begin assessing the safety of these products in June 2022. This will be spearheaded by the country’s Health, Labor, and Welfare Ministry, whose panel is tasked with deciding the necessary safety precautions for the sector. These moves came after the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries launched a forum in 2020 made up of industry stakeholders, including companies and government agencies, to compile a strategy for building Japan’s alt-protein ecosystem.
In terms of funding, the Japanese government has supported homegrown startup IntegriCulture, awarding it a ¥240M (US$2.2M) grant in 2020 to build its first commercial bioreactor.
IntegriCulture meat.
10) China
China recently hinted that it will ramp up its investment in cultivated meats. Its latest five-year agricultural plan specifically included cultivated meat and “artificial protein” for the first time. Under the plan, the Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Affairs outlined the development of “synthetic biology technology” as key to its goal of “upgrading of the food industry, and reduc[ing] the pressure on environmental resources brought about by traditional aquaculture”. According to state media Xinhua News, Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated the need to develop new sources of protein. He commented that “developing biological science and technology” to supplement traditional livestock would be key to the country’s food resilience.
It’s been a whirlwind year for the alternative protein industry. That’s why we’re taking a look back on some of the biggest headlines of 2022, spanning across the globe. Here, we review what the cultivated meat sector brought to the table, from major funding milestones to product launches.
1. Upside Foods earns GRAS status
Upside Foods’ chicken taco.
California-based cell-based chicken maker Upside Foods received the milestone GRAS status from the FDA this year. In November, it became the first U.S. company to obtain the “No Questions” letter from the authorities to deem its products safe to eat. It’s a big deal for the cultivated industry, with this move seen as the first step towards gaining regulatory approval for producers to sell to consumers directly in the country for the first time. The announcement comes just short of a year after Upside acquired cultivated seafood startup Cultured Decadence.
2. First-ever cultivated yogurt becomes a reality, thanks to Wilk
In a global first for the sector, Israeli food tech startup Wilk says it has developed yogurt using cell cultures derived from human and animal milk. The yogurt product, released in November, contains cell-based milk fat that rivals the nutritional benefits of conventional dairy-based milk fat.
3. Cultivated chicken gets served at COP27…then sold at a butcher shop
Good Meat’s cell-based chicken.
With the sustainability of our food system a subject of focus at the United Nations COP27 summit this year, cultivated chicken was served up for the first time. Guests at the event, which took place in Egypt in November, got a taste of Good Meat’s real chicken meat grown directly from cells. Good Meat is the cultivated protein arm of San Francisco-based Eat Just, the brand known for its plant-based JUST Egg product. Weeks later, Good Meat’s cultivated meat, which evolved from a nugget format last year to now a satay chicken skewers (and soon, even chicken skin), landed on the bistro menu and display case at a Singapore butcher shop for the first time.
4. APAC agrees on ‘cultivated’ nomenclature
Perhaps the alternative protein nomenclature wars have come to an end–or at least in the cultivated meat world. In APAC, cell-based food producers came to an agreement that the preferred English-language term would be “cultivated”. Those who signed the memo in October include the Good Food Institute’s (GFI) regional arm, as well as over 30 other major stakeholders in the category, from Cargill to the APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture. While terms such as “cell-cultured” and “cell-based” have been previously been touted as the top terms to describe this sector of alternative proteins, the GFI has long been a proponent of the word “cultivated” since 2019.
5. Africa welcomes its first cultivated beef burger
Mzansi Meat’s beef burger.
In April, we saw cultivated beef land in the African continent for the first time. South African startup Mzansi Meat launched its first cell-based burger, serving it at a special event to Cape Town’s mayoral committee member Alderman James Vos. Other African startups racing to bring their cell-based meats to the table include chicken-focused Mogale Meat and Sea Stematic, which has its eye on seafood.
6. Governments around the world formally back cultivated meat
Cultivated meat got a big boost from governments around the world. From the €60 million investment made by the Dutch authorities to Israel’s go-ahead for the country’s cultivated meat consortium, it’s clear that states are finally seeing the sector as a promising solution to global food security and sustainability. Global superpowers are on it too. The Biden administration gave huge backing to the biotech industry, which was largely seen as paving the way for cultivated meat regulatory approval. Meanwhile, China’s 5-year plan specifically included cell-based protein for the first time, which certainly boosted investment sentiment for players like CellX, a Shanghai cell-ag firm that bagged $10.6M in its Series A this year.
7. Vow to become world’s second approved cultivated meat brand in Singapore
French onion dish with Morsel, Vow’s first product.
Australia’s Vow revealed it will soon gain regulatory approval from Singapore to sell its cultivated quail meat. The announcement was made as the food tech sets a record with its $49.2M Series A funding, which came soon after it opened one of the world’s largest cultured meat factories capable of churning out 30 tons per year. The factory joins the strong league of cell-based producers that turned its machines on this year, from Ivy Farm’s plant in the U.K. (which is Europe’s largest), and Asia’s biggest facility in Singapore spearheaded by Good Meat.
8. Cultivated food ecosystem get organized across the globe
In October, three of the world’s biggest cultivated food industry associations hosted a meeting in Singapore. The first-of-a-kind alliance is made up of U.S.-based Alliance for Meat, Poultry, and Seafood Innovation (AMPS Innovation), Cellular Agriculture Europe (CAE), and the APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture (APAC-SCA). Together, these societies hope to get ecosystem stakeholders together to speed up the process of creating a global regulatory framework, time to market and educating consumers about the welfare benefits and sustainability solutions the industry has to offer. The latter was founded by 11 companies across the Asian region, which only just launched in March this year.
9. 2022 is a year of firsts for cell-based product launches, from smoked duck breast to fish balls
Forsea Foods’ eel.
2022 marked an incredible year for cultivated protein product rollouts. Some of the major ones include Meatable, which is set to launch cell-based pork in Singapore by partnering with the city-state’s contract manufacturer ESCO Aster, Meatiply’s regional-first cultivated smoked duck breast, and Israel-based Future Meat’s ground lamb meat. There’s also Umami Meats’ fish balls, Forsea Foods’ eel, and Joes Future Food’s pork belly for its pork-loving domestic market–all cultivated directly from cells. Even cell-cultured fish fat is now a thing, thanks to ImpacFat.
10. Foie gras makers Gourmey bag record funding
Finally, French startup Gourmey made headlines for closing a record-breaking €48M Series A in October. The oversubscribed round will go towards making its culinary-grade cultivated foie gras a reality by building a 46,000-square-foot commercial production facility in Paris, due to open in 2024.
As we wrap up 2022, let’s take a look back over some of the breaking headlines that solidified precision fermentation as a major pillar in the world of alternative protein. Here are some of the top stories within the space, from animal-free milk landing in Singapore to mark an Asia-wide first, to getting vocal support from renowned environmental journalist George Monboit.
1. Dairy giants bet big on precision fermentation
This year, we saw the world’s largest dairy brands place their bets on precision fermentation. In October, New Zealand’s Fonterra, which supplies nearly a third of the world’s milk, partnered with bioscience firm Royal DSM to kickstart a precision fermentation startup making sustainable dairy proteins. Just one month later in November, the Bel Group–makers of iconic cheeses like Babybel and Boursin–began a collaboration with French startup Standing Ovation to start producing new alt-cheeses through microbial fermentation. Bel has since announced that three of its brands, Nurishh and The Laughing Cow, will expand its animal-free offerings too using Perfect Day’s precision fermentation tech.
2. Precision fermentation milk lands in Asia
Very Dairy milk.
2022 marked the year when animal-free milk made its way to Asia for the first time. This December, Singapore residents are able to grab a carton of Very Dairy, a brand launched by Californian food tech Perfect Day. Available in three flavours–plain, chocolate and strawberry–the brand new products are dairy-identical thanks to the microflora that are engineered to recreate real milk proteins in a much more sustainable way. This is mere months after the precision dairy pioneer brought its animal-free dairy ice cream Coolhaus to the island nation.
Outside of Asia, the next regions to watch in the coming months for product launches include Israel, whose homegrown startup Imagindairy closed a $28M seed round in May to expedite its “guilt-free dairy solutions”. There’s also Australia, where CSIRO-backed Eden Brew bagged $5M in June to bring its animal-free milk (and ice cream!) to consumers.
3. India welcomes its own animal-free dairy startup
Animal-free milk proteins made its way to India this year, with Phyx44 becoming the country’s first startup focused on this technology. Based in Bangalore and founded by IIT alummi and ex-Googler Bharath Bakaraju, the company, which boasts a gender-equal technical team of PhD scientists, will use precision fermentation to reproduce whey and casein proteins to make everything from yogurt to paneer. Not only a first for India, the startup stands out as one of the few full-stack players in the sector that is also targeting animal-free fats, in addition to whey and casein proteins. It closed a $1.2M seed round in November.
Phyx44’s precision fermentation dairy.
4. And so does China
China also opened doors to the precision fermentation dairy sector this year. In August, Changing Bio came out of stealth mode with a big bang, announcing a record $22M Series A, the second largest alt-protein funding round in the country. The food tech has reportedly already dished out animal-free dairy samples and is now building a 9,000 square-meter facility in Qingdao.
5. George Monbiot joins the precision fermentation fight
The precision fermentation food sector won vocal support from climate activists and renowned environmental writer George Monbiot this year. Launched at November’s COP27, Monbiot and the group Reboot Food prioritised a focus on “brewed proteins” such as precision fermentation in its manifesto to usher in a sustainable and just food system for the world.
6. Sports nutrition giant MyProtein says yes to Perfect Day’s animal-free whey…and more of the pioneer’s wins
MyProtein’s new Whey Forward line.
MyProtein, the ubiquitous sports nutrition and fitness brand, announced new products made using Perfect Day’s animal-free whey. In August, the company revealed Whey Forward, its new co-branded line of proteins that delivers on performance and taste, but is far more sustainable and ethical compared to conventionally produced whey protein. This was just the latest in a slew of 2022 wins for the sector’s pioneer food tech Perfect Day, which continued to make big moves in the following month when it rolled out Nth Bio. The platform will offer its expertise and collaboration opportunities with other companies, paving the way for precision fermentation to tap into new product categories in the future. Just months later in December, the firm acquired India’s Sterling Biotech, one of the largest global gelatin producers, signaling that it may be eyeing fermented gelatin next.
7. The Every Co. cracks its animal-free eggs into macarons & more
It wasn’t just a big year for Perfect Day, but for The Every Co. too, another early name in the precision fermentation industry. After its mega rebrand from Clara Foods late last year, The Every Co. proved its animal-free egg white protein product, Every EggWhite, in March. It debuted an impressive line-up of macarons made with its product in collaboration with renowned patisserie brand Chantal Guillon. Then in October, the food tech entered the $260 billion alcoholic beverage market, debuting the world’s first precision fermentation egg protein-boosted hard juice in partnership with Pulp Culture. While The Every Co. was the first to the chickenless race, it is by no means the only one, as this year we saw Onega Bio enter the playing field with a $11M seed round in February. The Finnish VTT offshoot startup’s first product will be an animal-free “bioalbumen” egg white protein.
8. New innovations in alternative ingredients: bovine lactoferrin
TurtleTree’s lactoferrin.
TurtleTree, the biotech based in both Singapore and California, managed to unveil LF+ in August this year after 18 months of development. It is the world’s first precision fermentation bovine lactoferrin, a sustainably created identical protein that opens up possibilities in the adult nutrition, sports nutrition and infant formula industries.
9. Animal-free casein factory lands in the Middle East
In October, alt-dairy startup Change Foods announced a new collaboration with the UAE’s KEZAD Group to start building a commercial production plant in Abu Dhabi. With a capacity of 1.2M litres, the upcoming fermentation factory is slated to churn out enough animal-free casein milk proteins to replace that of 10,000 cows and will supply the Middle East and Asian markets.
Change Foods’ bioreactors in a facility.
10. We get closer to animal-free fats
The precision fermentation space inches towards making animal-free fats a reality, after Aussie startup Nourish Ingredients bagged AU$45M in a Series A in October. The funds will go towards developing microbial fermentation fats and oils, a key ingredient to take alternative proteins in the plant-based and cultivated sectors to a new level in terms of taste. Another company making moves in the animal-free fat segment is Melt&Marble. The Swedish startup scored €5M in a seed round earlier in May, which will fuel its ambitions to commercially launch its alternative “beef-like” fat custom-made to upgrade the taste and texture of plant-based meats.
We dive into some of the headlines that topped plant-based alternative protein space, from vegan labelling wars to never-seen-before product launches. Here’s what the plant-based sector brought for us in 2022.
1. Plant-based milk sales top $2.3 billion
Oatside’s oat milk.
Vegan milk sales in the U.S. reached new highs (yet again) this year, growing 6.4% to almost $2.3 billion in June. Almond milk remained the category leader, taking up $1.2 billion of the share of sales, but oat milk saw a major hike of 50%. Exact figures for other markets are not yet available, but no doubt oat milk’s rise was a global phenomenon. South East Asia saw the arrival of a new homegrown brand Oatside to rival category giant Oatly’s popularity across the Asian region. Over in India, Bengaluru-based Alt Co. caught the attention of investors with a $1M round for its barista-approved oat milk line.
2. Vegan labelling wars continue
2022 was a year of more debates over plant-based labelling. There were some wins. In April, the case Tofurky won its lawsuit in the Louisiana courts against the 2020 ban over the use of “meaty” terms for vegan products. In the ruling, the judge sided with Tofurky’s First Amendment violation challenge, in essence allowing products like vegan sausages and plant-based burgers to be labelled as such. Months later, we saw one of the most iconic American legacy brands in the plant-based space, Tofutti, finally add the term “vegan” to its packaging. India also hailed a win, with authorities working on further clarification of vegan definitions. However, the labelling dispute is still ongoing in Turkey, where the sale of vegan cheese is banned entirely on grounds of “deception”. In July, activists decided to sue, challenging it as unconstitutional.
3. Impossible Foods forges ahead with global expansion
Impossible x Domino’s.
Impossible Foods kept pushing on with its expansion plans over the year, most notably in the Australian and New Zealand markets. In March, the brand landed in retail giants Woolworths and Countdown in both countries. Just months later in October, Impossible brought its plant-based beef to pizza chain Domino’s. The brand also made inroads in Asia, where it debuted its vegan chicken nuggets in Hong Kong. But it hasn’t been good news all the way for the company, as it faced a legal battle with Motif Foodworks over its signature heme ingredient early on in the year (the case is ongoing and in Europe, Impossible saw one of its patents revoked), as well as its decision to layoff 6% of its workforce as part of a restructuring plan following founder Pat Brown’s exit as CEO and generally turbulent market conditions. The company is now helmed by former Chobani executive Peter McGuinness, while Brown retained a role as “Chief Visionary Officer”. A few months later, the company announced Brown would be heading up a new research arm dubbed Impossible Labs. However, in November, the visionary former CEO confirmed he was taking a leave of absence from the company until March 2023.
4. Food giants hop on the vegan cheese train, debut slew of plant-based food offerings
As plant-based eating becomes even more mainstream, 2022 saw large food corporations take up the opportunity to expand their vegan offerings. First up was France’s dairy giant Bel Group, which launched a vegan Babybel in January, with a plant-based version of The Laughing Cow to come soon. After announcing a partnership with Chile’s vegan leader NotCo in February, Kraft Heinz unveiled new products in October, including dairy- and egg-free mayonnaise, as well as three vegan cheeses: American, provolone and cheddar. In December, Kraft also rolled out a vegan edition of its iconic Philadelphia cream cheese in its domestic U.S. market after its debut in the U.K. Outside of the cheese space, big food corporations also doubled down on their overall vegan ranges, such as IKEA’s moves towards making 50% of its menu veggie, and Amazon Fresh adding over two dozen new vegan food products to its platform.
Philadelphia’s vegan cream cheese.
5. Beyond Meat’s no good, very bad year
Unfortunately, 2022 was a bit of a write-off for food tech giant Beyond Meat. In June, Don Lee Farms lodged yet another lawsuit against its former co-manufacturer, alleging Beyond of unfair competition via misleading ads, on top of its previous accusation of breach of contract, fraud and arrears. Then, amid missed sales targets, a scandal involving its COO Doug Ramsey being arrested for attacking another man, as well as the ultimate failure of its much-anticipated partnership with McDonald’s to supply the McPlant burger, Beyond announced job cuts of nearly 20% of its workforce. Some hope to end the year, though, with the brand scoring a deal to stock its plant-based burger at 1,600 Rewe supermarket locations in Germany after its PR highlight of getting Kim Kardashian on board as a “Chief Taste Consultant”.
6. Vegan cheese and plant-based eggs take off across Asia
While vegan cheese and egg alternatives saw major mainstreaming in the U.S. and European markets last year, the category skyrocketed in Asia over the course of 2022. We saw the region’s first-ever dairy-free festival held in Jakarta, as well as a whole bunch of product launches. Thailand welcomed its first vegan cheese factory, Indonesian food tech Green Rebel entered the egg- and dairy-free realm, and South Korea’s Armoured Fresh secured $23M this year to bring its almond-based cheeses to new markets. In the egg alternative space, India’s Evo Foods says it will work with Ginkgo Bioworks to create even more realistic analogues, while Japan saw the rollout of two new egg alternatives: Umami’s konjac-based product, and Kewpie’s soy-based “Hobotama” that mimics scrambled eggs.
Evo Foods’ scrambled egg.
7. Huge funding rounds for vegan meat players
Three vegan meat makers saw major inflows of capital to continue their expansion, despite the global economic downturn. It kicked off with Chinese plant-based meat maker Starfield’s $100M Series B in January, which went towards building a new commercial factory line for everything from vegan pastrami to meat chunks. Then in March, Next Gen Foods bagged a whopping $100M, the largest single Series A investment in the sector to date, for its vegan chicken brand TiNDLE which has since landed in Veggie Grill locations stateside. Fast forward to September, Swiss startup Planted scored $72M in a Series B geared to expand its range of clean-label whole-cut analogues.
The plant-based alt-protein seriously stepped up its game with a number of never-seen-before products. These included Juicy Marbles’ whole-cut loin, which it described as the “biggest, most insulting piece of plant muscle ever conceived”, Haofood’s peanut-based chicken, FairFlavor’s gelato made using kenari nuts, and ChickP’s vegan ice cream, made from–you guessed it–chickpeas. In the vegan seafood category, we saw an outburst of newbies, from Thai Union’s vegan shrimp to not one, but two ultra-realistic salmon fillets: Revo Foods’, which is mercury-free and 3D-printed, and Plantish’s whole-cut version. There’s even vegan snapper debuted by SeaSpire, unbreaded fish fillets that Jack & Bry made using jackfruit, and famous frozen foods brand Birds Eye’s new fishless battered fish. And it looks like the seafood space won’t be short of innovation in the months to come either, with Seafood Reboot netting $3.3M in May, promising to launch a whole new line-up of regenerative algae-powered alternatives.
9. France’s plant-based scene finally picks up pace
HappyVore’s vegan burger.
2022 was a year when the French plant-based scene (finally) got going to catch up with neighbouring European countries, starting off with fast food chain Burger King’s move to add vegan bacon to its menu. In May, the QSR, which made serious plant-based inroads in Europe, Asia and the Middle East over the course of 2021, partnered with La Vie Foods to use plant-based bacon rashers for its Veggie Steakhouse burger. One month later, homegrown food tech HappyVore bagged €35M to fund the buyout of a Chevilly-based facility, which is the largest specialist vegan meat factory in France. To round out the year, plant-based meat maker Umiami took over a former Unilever factory to kickstart large-scale production of any type of vegan meat and fish. According to Umiami, after a full revamp, the factory may be able to churn out upwards of 22,000 tons of whole-cut meat–that could make France a serious alt-protein powerhouse to watch.
10. Vegan alt-protein takes off in a big way across India
Greenest range of vegan meat.
India’s plant-based industry also had a breakthrough year. It started out with Indian delivery giant Swiggy’s deal with homegrown vegan firm GoodDot to add a separate plant-based category to its platform, then Mumbai-based Blue Tribe Foods scoring Bollywood celebrity and cricket star Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli as brand ambassadors. Soon after, India’s leading spices company Agromatic Nutrifoods revealed a whole new line of frozen vegan meats, from kebabs to nuggets, while Evo Foods covered all the alt-protein bases with what was the world’s first heat-stable vegan boiled egg. In the Spring months, BVeg Foods began upgrading its analogues by working with Swiss production leader Bühler, which will mean we get one step closer to ultra-realistic whole muscle cuts, while the Greenest brand continued expanding its range with burger patties and more (and has since closed a pre-seed round too). Drink maker Novolutions said it’ll enter the vegan meat space with meatballs and even “spicy fingers”. Perhaps the most exciting news of all was coffee giant Starbucks’ collab with Imagine Meats to bring everything from vegan sausage croissant rolls to hummus kebab wraps to stores across the country.
Christmas is just around the corner, and you might be planning a dinner party or ten (!) during this season of eating, drinking and being merry. While we often make a huge effort to organise and host a memorable soiree, many of us forget to think about ways to reduce our environmental impact during these gatherings. Here are 6 tips you should bear in mind before you head out to do all your food and grocery shopping for that Christmas get-together you have planned!
1. Get Your Groceries In Bulk & Packaging-Free
There are more zero-waste bulk food stores popping up around town, so there’s no excuse to keep buying all your ingredients for Christmas dinner from supermarkets! Bring out your reusable containers, jars and bags, and get weighing! From specialty spices and teas to staple foods like pasta, rice and beans, many bulk food stores have it all. We put together a bulk food store guide for Asia, so you can easily locate your nearest store to shop packaging-free. In Hong Kong? Here’s our guide to zero-waste food shopping in the city.
2. Buy Plant-Based
Reducing our consumption of meat and dairy has been touted the “single biggest way” to reduce our carbon footprint. You don’t have to ditch the fun when you ditch the meat, though! Check out all our plant-based Christmas dinner recipes – there is a vegan-friendly version of every festive favourite out there. If you’re unfamiliar with making some of these plant ingredients, local organic and health shops will come in handy. If you’re looking for plant milks to whip up some vegan desserts for instance, while many supermarkets will stock Tetra-paks, SpiceBox Organics offers cashew and almond milk that you can purchase using your own container. Planet score!
3. Buy From Local & Fresh Markets
Hong Kong is home to so many wonderful wet markets. Make use of your local one to buy all your fresh, locally and regionally grown produce – all loose and packaging free. Over the festive season, you can expect many of them to stock up on Christmassy ingredients, such as sweet potatoes, Brussel sprouts, chestnuts and cinnamon. Just pick what you need and pay per gram – you aren’t confined to the serving that supermarkets decide for you. You might also want to incorporate Asian ingredients to give your dishes a special twist!
4. Think Before You Buy
Be realistic with how much food you will need. Just like how we should avoid over-ordering when we eat out at restaurants, the same should apply to our food shopping. Make sure you do your groceries with a list, and stick to it, so you won’t be adding in anything unnecessary to your basket, which might end up as waste.
5. Donate Your Leftovers
If you happen to still find yourself with tonnes of leftovers, please don’t bin them. Asia is already responsible for over half of the world’s food waste, so let’s not contribute any more to our crisis. While easily perishable dishes and foods might not be accepted by food banks, find out what some centres do take in, and donate them to make sure they won’t go to waste.
6. Share With Your Family, Friends & Neighbours
And for those items that food banks might not accept, share them with your family, friends and neighbours. Perhaps some of your guests can take food home to enjoy the next day using reusable food containers and jars, of course.
Lead image courtesy of Canva, all others courses Pexels.
Have you been doing the same activities year in year out, every festive season? Maybe it is time to try some of these not-so-typical alternative activities that are eco-friendly, fun and positive. Here are 9 ideas to get you, your family and friends started this (green) Christmas!
1. Volunteer
Source: Atlanta Humane
Christmas is meant to be a time for giving, yet many of us have strayed away from the season’s meaning thanks to our mainstream consumer culture. Instead of buying more things that most of us don’t need, gift someone your time and energy this year. Take a day out to volunteer at a local shelter or food bank with your family and friends, it’ll be a heartwarming and rewarding experience, guaranteed.
2. Create Some D-I-Y Eco Ornaments
Source: 365 Greetings
Put your creative hats on and get crafty! Sit around a table and make some eco-friendly ornaments with recycled and upcycled materials lying at home. You could make a wreath out of old buttons, for instance. Need more ideas? We have a whole list of D-I-Y decorations to keep yourself and your kids busy this season.
3. Go Ice-Skating
Source: Unsplash
This is kind of basic, but when was the last time you gathered a group together for some ice-skating fun? Even if you can hardly balance on those scary skates, this activity all but guarantees loads of laughs and lasting memories.
4. Host A Christmas Bake-Off Party
Source: Unsplash
There’s hardly anything that smells better than freshly baked cookies and cake on a cold wintery day. Gather your friends and relatives together for a vegan cookie party and get baking! From gingerbread biscuits to panettone, there are loads of plant-based recipes online. Take a look at some of the Christmas recipes we’ve curated for inspiration, and make sure to check out our ultimate guide on how to be an eco holiday party host.
5. Video Chat Or Call Your Friends & Family Abroad
Source: Pexels
If you have family or friends that live abroad, the winter holidays is the perfect season to video chat or call in just to catch up. Ask about how they’ve been, what they have been up to and make plans to meet up in person soon (IRL for those of you who can’t take their eyes off your screen). And btw you screenistas out there, perhaps you want to consider breaking up with your phone? Or going on a break at least..!
6. Make Some Homemade Vegan S’Mores
Source: Picky Eater Blog
Who doesn’t love s’mores? There’s no need to limit the fun to a campfire, you can make this in the comfort of your own home. All you need are some vegan digestive biscuits, gelatin-free marshmallows and dark chocolate slabs – all of which are now commonly stocked in supermarkets and specialty health stores – and a stovetop (or loads of candles!). Perfect for a cold night-in and 100% delicious.
7. Put Together A Playlist
Source: Unsplash
Curate your favourite holiday tunes for every activity. Make an upbeat playlist for a dinner party, a warm jazzy one (Billie Holiday anyone?) for your festive cooking adventures, and another one for when you do some much-needed holiday decluttering.
8. Gift Homemade Treats & Ornaments To Someone Unexpected
Source: Fly For Good
Make someone’s day by! In past years, we’ve shared about Kindness Advent Calendars whereby you perform random acts of kindness every day in December but it doesn’t have to be a prescribed formula. Whether it is your local cashier, next-door neighbour, or the person in front of the line when you grab a coffee, it’s for sure that they will feel the love with a delivery of homemade treats or an adorable D-I-Y upcycled ornament.
9. Read A Book
Source: Pexels / Thought Catalog
Sitting down with a book used to be a basic Christmas activity, but not anymore. It feels like we hardly get the time to dive into a novel nowadays, so take the opportunity this Christmas to do so – Bill Gates has a great end-of-the-year reading list you may want to check out.
It’s that time of year again! Over the Christmas season, most of us gather with our friends and visit family members to celebrate. But all those dinner parties and festivities do add up – think about the non-recyclable bunting and tinsel to the food waste from overflowing buffet spreads. This doesn’t mean that we can’t host a greener, more eco-friendly party this year! Here are 10 ideas that might inspire you.
Host a vegetarian or vegan meal. Did you know that one of the single biggest ways we can reduce our carbon footprint is to ditch meat? This doesn’t mean a boring meal at all – check out all these vegan Christmas recipes to get started.
3. Buy From Local Farmers, Shops & Bakeries
Source: Unsplash
When you go for a grocery haul before you whip up all those (plant-based) Christmas dishes, make sure you buy ingredients that are locally sourced to avoid air-flown emissions. If you’re thinking to purchase some cake, support a local business – there are loads of vegan-friendly bakeries around town.
4. Only Use Reusable Cutlery, Dishware & Serveware
Source: Unsplash
One of the biggest culprits for waste at parties are disposable plates, cutlery, cups and other utensils. It’s totally easy to avoid this – just use the real stuff, which is what you probably already have at home. And if there aren’t enough sets for everyone, you can always purchase secondhand or ask friends to bring some over. You can also make wine or drink charms to label plates and glasses.
5. Avoid Food Waste
Source: Getty Images
Loads of leftovers? All these extras should never go straight in the bin. Encourage guests to take home servings of food and drinks, or share with your neighbours and colleagues at work! Still more leftovers? Take them to a food bank. Need more ideas? Here’s a great guide to conquering food waste at home.
6. Encourage Waste-Free Gifts
Source: Fotolia
Tell your guests that all gifts exchanged should be waste-free! No plastic, no excessive packaging. In the spirit of hosting a green holiday party, presents don’t have to be “things” and can be as simple as a donation to a good cause or tickets to your favourite play.
7. Set Up Recycling Stations
Source: Recycle More UK
Set up recycling bins throughout your party, for cans, bottles, paper products and food compost. Make sure your guests know where to dispose of their items, and how to do so properly at the beginning of the party – it could be a great icebreaker and with the festive spirit abound, friends & fam may be open to ways they can reduce their environmental impact.
8. Mood Lighting With (Eco) Candles
Source: Freepik
Light up your home with candles. Not only does this make for an eco decoration, it’ll save on electricity while creating an intimate, festive mood. Looking for eco, petrol-free options that offer a safe burn? We’ve got the ultimate green candle roundup.
9. Throw In A Sustainable Dress Code
When you invite your guests, invite them to join in on a sustainable dress code policy. Make the rules fun, like telling guests that they must wear a Christmas sweater that is secondhand, recycled or a hand-me-down, and accessorise with D-I-Y upcycled home pieces- or if it must be new, they have to wear sustainable fashion brands. Another great icebreaker for your guests: you can all exchanged preloved fashion tips!
10. Give Guests An Eco Conscious Parting Gift
Source: Pexels
Finish off your eco-party with a gift bag that doesn’t leave behind any waste. Homemade granola bars or gingerbread men wrapped in paper, for instance, would make a great treat. Little bags of seeds to grow their own herbs at home would make another green gift. We love these homemade jar gift ideas if you need more inspo.
Chances are you’ve heard about trail running lately. Perhaps your work colleague happens to be an avid trail runner, maybe your friend has just picked up the sport, or it just keeps coming up during family dinner conversations. Long story short, trail running has become a big hit in recent years all over the world, including our home city of Hong Kong. But wait – what is trail running, really? Here, we explain why trail running is different from other types of running and what makes it such a unique outdoor sport.
What is trail running?
Trail running is a long-distance endurance form of sport involving a combination of running and hiking. While similar to mountain running or hill running, trail running is distinguished by its exclusively unpaved terrain, such as soil, mud, ground and grass. It tends to take place in warmer climates, such as Hong Kong, and is typically a slower, more “concentrated” form of running compared to road running.
Source: Action Asia Events
Your brain has to move with your body
Unlike some other forms of running, trail running will naturally involve a few obstacles, whether it be uneven terrain or rubble and rocks along your path. Going through the ups and downs of each trail requires thinking and concentrating on the task ahead of you while you run. British ultramarathoner Robbie Britton, for instance, has previously described it as a “real boost for the brain”.
Each run is much like an adventure on the trails! On a treadmill, you might have to try and entertain yourself by watching the television screen in front of you. That couldn’t be further from the reality when you’re running somewhere surrounded by nature and wildlife, where the changing landscape will ensure you’ll never be bored.
Source: Unsplash
Less impact on your joints
Trail running typically involves softer surfaces, which reduces the pounding and impact on your joints and body. By contrast, running on hard man-made mediums such as asphalt or concrete creates more pressure on the cartilage cushioning, which can accelerate the natural rate of wear-and-tear of your joints.
Improves overall fitness
Running on trails provides a much more balanced and all-rounded exercise activity than running on concrete pavements. Going uphill improves strength, while uneven surfaces boosts flexibility, balance, core strength and ankle strength too. Tackling changing trail environments will also require runners to vary length of strides, shifting from left to right – all of this helps coordination and agility.
Source: Unsplash
Boost for your mental health
Sure, we all know that any exercise is good for our physical health, but did you know that trail running can be a real boon for our mental well-being too? Not only will you benefit from the endorphins or “happy hormones” released by any kind of exercise, spending time outdoors in the midst of nature has been shown to have therapeutic effects, from calming nerves to improving mood and self-esteem.
We all love to decorate our homes with festive plants during the holiday season, but most of the time, their time in the spotlight ends pretty quickly and they up being tossed out once the new year rolls in. This year, why not give your indoor plant decorations life beyond the holidays? Here are 10 beautiful plants to deck your home for some Christmas cheer that can be kept all year round.
1. Poinsettias
Source: She Knows
Poinsettias are of course the most popular Christmas houseplant. Their pointed red flowers are well known for appearing on tables and windowsills everywhere during the festive season, but they are in fact tropical plants that grow best in direct sunlight and humid temperatures – making them perfect for our climate, all year round.
2. Amaryllis
Source: Gardener’s Supply
A less well known Christmas plant is amaryllis, a bell-shaped red bloomer. They appear more and more often during the winter months, but they again are tropical plants that love relatively warm temperatures and humid climates, so they can totally be kept beyond the holidays.
3. Rosemary
Source: The Spruce
If you don’t have room for a large plant, why not a potted herb? Not only is rosemary a total Christmas charmer and can be used in so many festive recipes, their sweet-smelling fragrant sprigs will no doubt come in handy all the time, regardless of season.
4. Christmas Cactus
Source: Jackson & Perkins
The succulent trend isn’t confined to the winter or summer months. This popular houseplant is called the Christmas cactus because of its beautiful leaf-like pads and white, pink and red flowers that warm up your home. Originally from the rainforests of southern Brazil, these succulents will remain green for most of the year. Some say they can live for as long as 30 years.
5. Paperwhites
Source: Home Depot
These fragrant tall flowers grow all year round, and keeping them is as simple as just adding water. Their bulbs will look great under some Christmas mood lighting, but will still shine bright in your home come the spring season, not to mention they’re perfect for Chinese New Year.
6. Norfolk Island Pine
Source: Mulhall’s
Norfolk Island Pine trees are an excellent selection for the holiday season- they look like a mini version of the Christmas fir but they are actually tropical plants that require humidity and warmth to flourish. They love to sit in bright indirect sunlight, and will totally spruce up your home no matter what time of the year it is.
7. Winter Cherries
Source: St Pauls Garwood
Winter cherries are known for their tomato-looking berries that appear around the Christmas season and which look super festive nestled in their green leaves. But don’t throw them out once these berries disappear. In the summer, the plant blooms small white flowers. Do be careful though if you have small children and pets at home- winter cherries are toxic.
8. Christmasberry
Source: Pixabay
Christmasberry grows in shrubs, and are usually found along outdoor coastlines but can be kept indoors in a pot. They earned the name of being the berry of the festive season because it yields fruits that are red and plump. But they also do very well once winter is over. Christmas berries love sunlight, warm temperatures and humidity – perfect for our climate – and their dark glossy leaves will produce white star-shaped flowers in the summer.
9. Pothos Ivy
Want to ditch the traditional? What better way to do so than to add one of the most low-maintenance houseplants there is out there to your home collection? Hang this plant and their trailing stems up in a dangly basket, and they’ll look great with or without your (eco-friendly D-I-Y) Christmas decorations. Bonus: they purify the air by absorbing toxins in the atmosphere!
10. Areca Palm
Source: Shpock
Last but not least, areca palms are a tropical favourite. Why bow down to conventional wintery plants when we have warm temperatures for most of the year? In addition to needing very little care, they come in all sizes from big to small, so there is no doubt one suitable for everyone.
You’re vegan, but your partner or family members aren’t on board. I managed to convince those closest to me to give up meat thanks to certain behavioral nudges. Here’s what worked.
It’s not easy being the only vegan in a relationship, around your family, or in a group of friends. From social gatherings to traveling, you might feel a little left out at certain times, or even frustrated that those around you don’t see eye to eye when it comes to eating plant-based.
That was me. When I first met my husband, he was a big meat eater. But over the course of several months of our dating life, I convinced him to ditch meat for good–and he’s been vegetarian ever since. My mother has also made steps towards a plant-based diet, giving up meat entirely while minimising her consumption of seafood, dairy and eggs.
While you may not be able to persuade all of your loved ones to go vegan, quitting meat is one of the most impactful ways to reduce our climate impact. After all, animal agriculture alone accounts for nearly a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Below are some of my tried and true tips on positively influencing those around you to make sustainable changes to their diet.
Vegan bowl.
1. Explain why you are plant-based, without judgment on your loved ones
You have probably already explained why you chose to adopt a vegan diet, but have you listed all of your reasons? Chances are you may have mentioned your love for animals, but haven’t yet explained the real environmental or health benefits associated with a plant-based diet too. And the most important thing is to do so without judgment. Sometimes, people feel too pressured by the “preachy” vegan approach. They may be more interested and open-minded about the benefits of veganism if you share your personal story in an easygoing way.
2. Start off with one day a week
According to my husband, one of the ways he figured out he could go vegetarian was by practising Green Monday–ditching meat every single Monday. It doesn’t really have to be Monday, but the idea is that going veggie one day per week is a great stepping stone for most folks. Especially for heavy meat-eaters, they might not even realise how easy it is to quit eating animals until they kick start this new habit. So try to challenge your loved ones to just pick one meatless day per week, and you might just see this easily roll over into two or three days in no time.
Cook vegan meals together.
3. Cook delicious meals together
A lot of people don’t know where to start when it comes to vegan cooking, so convince them by showing the way. Cook some of your favourite plant-based dishes together, from vegan dumplings to breakfast staples like tofu scramble, or some of these super easy one-pot meals. Not only would it make your partner or family member feel less alone on their journey, it’ll also prove to the hardiest carnivores that vegan cooking can be fun and delicious.
4. Lay down the facts
During more serious conversations about why I chose to go vegan, I made sure I could back up all my reasons with facts and figures. For example, how livestock farming accounts for more carbon emissions than cars on the road in Europe. It also means having scientific evidence and expert knowledge to refute any common misconceptions about veganism and health. If you need a few pointers, here are some vegan myths that have been debunked by a cardiologist.
Vegan noodles with tofu, mushrooms and greens.
5. Ask them how they feel along the way
It’s easy to get so caught up in your own personal story that you forget to ask how your friend or partner feels about changing their diet. If they remain unconvinced, ask them why. Perhaps they feel like meat-filled meals simply taste better–and knowing that, you can arm them with useful information, like which plant-based meat substitutes are the most delicious. If your loved ones are already making steps towards a plant-based lifestyle, make sure to check in with them to ask them how it’s going. It’ll make them feel supported on their journey.
6. Never stop encouraging
Finally, never stop being the encouraging voice. It’s easy to get bogged down with the slow pace of climate action, and frustrated about the inhumane treatment of animals in our broken global food system. But it’s important to remember that moving the needle forward, even just a hair, is something. Every little step counts. You’ll only motivate your loved ones more if you cheer them on.
Holiday stress can exacerbate other stress, like eco-anxiety. But there are some helpful ways you can ease your eco-anxiety this festive season.
With so much news uncovering the severity of our ecological crisis, eco-anxiety, a psychological disorder involving ‘intense worry and a state of heightened anxiety about the environmental crisis’, is becoming more and more prevalent.
Today’s younger generations have grown up in the middle of mass biodiversity loss, record-breaking global warming, and never-ending pollution across our oceans, freshwater, soil, and air. With so much going on, many of us feel extremely stressed out, powerless, and depressed about the current state of the planet.
How to deal with eco-anxiety
Mental health issues should always be discussed with a health care provider first and foremost, but there are things you can do as well to support your stress levels about climate change. These tips may help.
1. Talk About It
Speak to your friends, trusted family members, or a professional about your worries. It’s completely okay to acknowledge your feelings and to communicate your emotions to those who are ready to listen. Voicing your concerns aloud is an effective way to relieve some of that heavy burden, frustration, and anxiety that you might be experiencing.
2. Reach Out To Like-Minded People
Remember that you are not alone! There are many others out there who feel the same way as you do, and being around a group of like-minded people can help you get through this tough time. Having a community is important, and you can find groups online, through a friend, or simply reach out and ask around if others are experiencing the same concerns.
Source: Pexels
3. Eat A Plant-Based Meal
One of the most powerful things you can do to reduce your carbon emissions and environmental impact is to ditch meat and dairy. Instead of opting for a meal that leaves a hefty footprint on our planet, which will likely fuel your eco-anxiety even more, try out all these plant-based Christmas recipes we have. The process of cooking up a vegan meal is bound to be a fun stress-relieving activity too. If you happen to be going on holiday, we have our vegan travel guides ready for you!
4. Cut Out Unnecessary Air Travel
With flygskam taking off this year, try to stick to alternative modes of transport instead of flying when you’re travelling. Trains are a great way to explore new destinations, as are other public modes of transport such as buses and trams. Try to walk a bit more too, or rent a bike! You’ll feel fitter and healthier, and that exercise will give you a good dose of those happiness-inducing endorphins!
Source: Pexels
5. Offset Your Footprint
We know that flying is sometimes unavoidable. But there are options out there for you to calculate the footprint of your flight, and act to offset it so you don’t have to become overwhelmed with worry about your impact. There are other ways to make sure you’re responsible while you travel too, from accommodation to tour choice, all outlined in our conscious travel guide.
6. Switch Off From The Web
Did you know that the web is also a source of carbon emissions because of the amount of energy it uses up? Switching off is at times a great idea, especially if you’re experiencing a bout of eco-anxiety. Use this time to nourish your health through offline activities such as a wellness retreat, fitness class, yoga workshop or a creative activity such as painting. Even sitting down with a book or listening to music could take your mind off the immediate headlines you scroll through on your phone on the daily.
7. If You Must, Use Ecosia & Other Digital Solutions
Again, we know that completely cutting off from the internet is almost impossible. You might need to search for an address or a quick fact up online. So if you must search the web, switch to Ecosia, a search engine that plants trees with every click! Also, download the web browser extension TreeClicks, handy for if you happen to need to do some online shopping and want to minimise the footprint of your purchase. These little acts of change might reduce some of the concerns you have about your environmental impact.
Source: Pexels
8. Green Your Home
Spend some time to greenify your home with some indoor plants. It won’t just brighten up your space, but it literally makes you healthier! Most notably, they help clean the air in your home, which will make you feel better for sure. We’ve got our own introduction on how to upgrade your home with plants. Alternatively, you can also decorate your home with some eco-friendly Christmas decorations! Many of them D-I-Y, which makes for a super festive activity to pick up over the holidays.
9. Turn Anxiety Into Action For Change
Instead of bathing in your eco-anxiety, turn this into a force for good! Positive action for climate change and other environmental issues is a great way to push for greater collaboration across all sectors to combat this global threat. Attend a climate strike, reach out to your local representative or district councillor, write to companies, volunteer with a local environmental charity! Every action, no matter how small it may seem, counts.
10. Read About Hope
Finally, get inspired. We all need stories of hope to keep us going, to motivate us that together, we can make change. No matter how dark it might seem right now, there are plenty of individuals, companies and groups that are dedicating huge amounts of time and effort to make the world a better place. We’ve interviewed some awesome people with incredible stories, people who are changing the world with their passion and innovation, read them for some serious hope.
