What was your personal motivation for getting involved with sustainable protein?
Before joining the Good Food Institute Europe, I spent my career working with communities facing increasingly precarious existence due to climate change – from the southern Philippines to rural Kenya. But we are now facing the biggest signs that the climate crisis has arrived in Europe and that we are living in a world that we have imposed on it.
Climate change threatens people’s lives and livelihoods, and nowhere is this felt more acutely than in our food system – crop losses due to drought and erratic weather in Europe have tripled over the past 50 years.
We need to develop a better and fairer way of feeding ourselves and move away from the current inefficient and harmful system that sees 70% of EU agricultural land used to feed farmed animals.
In addition to tackling climate change, sustainable proteins are a key part of the solution to many challenges facing Europe, from food security to health issues such as antimicrobial resistance. I can’t think of a more productive way to spend my time than putting this overlooked solution on the table and leading an organization dedicated to making it a reality.
What will be the focus of your work?
GFI’s role is to create the roadmap for this future and work with others to make the changes necessary to make sustainable proteins a success, and I will provide all the support and guidance to our growing team to make this happen.
This work ranges from vetting plant-based labels and proposed restrictions on farmed meat production, to establishing university research centers to provide companies with important consumer insights. But I will also spend time profiling sustainable proteins in European countries where we know there is a growing appetite for these foods and a huge potential for growth, but have yet to see much investment or political support.
I’m constantly blown away by the talent that exists within our team, but we’re still less than 30 people, and we wouldn’t be able to achieve this on our own. So I will also focus on building a large pool of knowledgeable and inspiring allies with whom we can work in many more countries, generating excitement about sustainable protein everywhere from Lisbon to Latvia.
How has the sustainable protein sector – and public perceptions of it – changed since you joined GFI Europe?
It is incredible to see how quickly these sectors have progressed since I joined GFI Europe as the third member of the team in February 2020. We’re seeing an increasing number of startups and established food businesses enter the space, and there are now more than 500 companies working on plant-based, cultured meat and fermented products across the continent.
And as companies begin to recognize the potential of sustainable protein, the public is becoming more interested.
We know from our own research that large numbers of people across France, Spain, Germany and Italy are now swapping conventional for plant-based meat, and that 33% to 65% of consumers in those countries are already willing to buy farmed meat.
But these foods are still nowhere near where they need to be across Europe. Right now, sustainable protein is where solar panels were in the 1990s. Rather than simply being a choice for environmentally-conscious consumers willing to pay a premium, we need to ensure they receive the government support and investment they need to deliver on their full potential.
What are the current challenges you face in the industry?
As the profile of these foods builds, and they receive more attention from politicians and the media, they are also unprecedented, and new challenges emerge.
Sales of plant-based foods continue to grow in Europe, but global economic instability, inflation and armed conflict have shaken the fragile supply chains that underpin our food system, and some young plant-based companies have struggled with the results.
While sustainable protein – which requires less land, water and energy – is well placed to address these issues, it’s a new sector highly dependent on venture capital investment, meaning the harsh economic climate presents a challenge compared to large conventional producers with more reserves to weather storms.
Politically, too, new challenges are on the horizon. We’re starting to see opposition to these foods in Europe, best exemplified by the Italian government considering a total ban on farmed meat—a move that would stifle scientific research and limit consumer choice in a country well-known for its history of food innovation.
What does the US approval of farmed meat mean for us in Europe?
Farmed meat now available to consumers in the world’s largest economy is a huge step that will boost investor confidence and bring a whole new level of innovation, but it raises some big questions about what’s happening on this side of the Atlantic.
About 10 years ago, Dutch scientist Dr Mark Post demonstrated the world’s first cultivated burger at an event in London. Farmed meat was born in Europe, and we’re home to some of the world’s leading scientists and startups – but we’re now in danger of falling behind.
This is no longer speculative – several European startups are planning to build their scaling facilities in the US and Singapore, where they see a clear path to market.
We urgently need European governments to adopt clear sustainable protein strategies and make the regulatory system more transparent to ensure Europe’s competitive edge and the progress we have made in the last few years, and the environmental and public health benefits of these foods are felt across our continent.
How do you see this sector moving forward in the next five years?
I have an ambition that within five years, Europeans will be able to enjoy farmed meat and precision fermented products, and that the next generation of plant-based alternatives that are now emerging will be simple, tasty and affordable.
But for Europe to become a world leader in sustainable protein, we need governments and businesses to get behind the sector, realize the importance of these foods and invest in research and the infrastructure needed to make them successful.
We see the dial turning in the right direction. Our recent State of Global Policy report shows that European governments have caught up with early pioneers such as Singapore and the United States, where public investment has reached close to half a billion euros, most of which has been invested in the past year.
We need to capitalize on this momentum, and address the mixed messages that some European governments are sending to sustainable protein producers, or the opportunity to lead the world and drive innovation in this key climate solution will slip through our fingers.
What must change for sustainable proteins to realize their potential in Europe?
We have identified three main objectives that need to happen. First, we need to increase public investment in scale-up infrastructure and open-access research and development to improve taste and reduce prices.
Second, we must grow the scientific community working on sustainable proteins in Europe and ensure that researchers have the resources to overcome key technological challenges.
Finally, we need to increase private investment in the sector, from startup funding for innovative entrepreneurs to large capacity-building projects for big-name brands.
It will be at the heart of every decision I make as I take the reins of GFI Europe, but we won’t be able to do it on our own. To make this happen we need to work closely with partners across business, science and policy.