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Environment & Agriculture
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Welcome to the third edition of the Future Thinking Climate Change series. Last month we explored Sustainable Consumption and looked at how we can reduce waste. This month our focus is on the Environment and Agriculture, how we can produce more sustainably at a lower cost to our environment.
Agriculture, food, deforestation and changes in land use are a top three contributor to climate change, and are predicted to lead to the extinction of over a million species. On top of this, it is estimated that by 2050 we'll need to feed two billion more people globally, and the demand for more crops to feed livestock is one reason experts say we’ll need to double crop production in the same timescale. Demand for meat has tripled in the developing world in four decades, while egg consumption has increased sevenfold, driving a huge expansion of large-scale animal operations.
As humans continue to encroach on natural eco-systems, unless we ensure our practices are sustainable there will undoubtedly be greater environmental destruction, further pandemics and the increase of other diseases. There are some really exciting and positive signs - biotech, CRISPR & new deep tech are offering new opportunities to increase yields while lowering CO2 and waste in the global food value chain. In addition, new meat substitutes and advances in agri/aquaculture are helping to maintain biodiversity and planet health.
High-tech is gaining ground in the age-old world of agriculture and agricultural innovations have gradually revolutionised work in the fields, on the farm and increasingly in the water.
Ongoing investment by industry and governments in research, development and innovation, will be essential to ensure that our food system can meet the demands and needs of the world’s growing population in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way.
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FPC's Focus on Tackling Climate Change
Future Planet, working in partnership with scientists and founders emerging from the world’s top universities, is seeking those companies best able to meet this challenge and address the $50 trillion market opportunity created by the challenge of climate change.
The very essence of capitalism is to make more from less and the essence of responsible capitalism is to reduce unnecessary consumption and waste. A sustainable approach to emissions, consumption and the environment is not only profitable but will reduce untold suffering for billions of humans and their fellow creatures.
Future Planet brings together the world’s leading thinkers in these spaces and identities companies in focus areas most likely to make a valuable difference. Please read on below to learn more about our particular areas of focus for the Environment and Agriculture.
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A. AgriTech
To be sustainable, agriculture must meet the needs of present and future generations, while ensuring profitability, environmental health, and social and economic equity. Sustainable food and agriculture contributes to all four pillars of food security – availability, access, utilisation and stability – and the dimensions of sustainability.
It is estimated that 25% of total global greenhouse gas emissions (carbon, methane and others) are directly caused by crop and animal production and forestry. The crop and livestock sectors use 70% of freshwater resources and, together with forestry, occupy 60% of the Earth’s land surface.
It is clear that agriculture needs to revolutionise. Global food production methods must change to minimise the impact on the environment and support the world’s capacity to produce food in the future.
There is a real opportunity - which a number of innovative businesses are already taking - to see opportunities and identify solutions and innovations.
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Committee on Agriculture 27 – Sustainable Livestock for Sustainable Development Goals
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B. Food: Greener Protein
Globally, meat consumption is the highest it’s ever been. According to the UN, global meat production is projected to double by 2050. As the Good Food Institute sets out, through plant-based meat, cultivated meat, and fermentation, we can mitigate the environmental impact of our food system, decrease the risk of zoonotic disease, and ultimately feed more people with fewer resources. In addition, there are many greener ways to produce protein and in the near-term, that are likely to have a very significant impact on climate change.
The alt protein industry's ambitions are very high, but scaling production enough to achieve anything near such lofty goals will mean overcoming some stiff headwinds. Nevertheless, the industry raised $3.1 billion in investments in 2020—three times more than in any single year in the industry’s history. The same year that saw multiple social, environmental, and economic crises converge across the globe also saw record-breaking investments in alt proteins, which, not coincidentally, provide solutions to some of our most serious challenges—from climate change to global hunger.
Moo’s Law is the latest title from successful investor Jim Mellon to help readers understand the investment landscape in cultivated meat. Jim has a vision that within the next couple of decades world agriculture will be radically transformed by the advent of cultivated meat technology.
As the world sets its sights on a post-pandemic horizon and the global goal of net-zero emissions, investors are quickly realizing that climate risk is investment risk, making sustainable solutions for protein production attractive for reasons that extend far beyond the bottom line.
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Listen to a Tedx talk from Bruce Friedrich, Executive Director of The Good Food Institute (GFI), a nonprofit organization that promotes innovative alternatives to conventional meat, dairy products, and eggs.
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C. Advances in Aquaculture
By 2030, 62 percent of all seafood produced for human consumption will come from aquaculture. Aquaculture is the controlled process of cultivating aquatic organisms, especially for human consumption. It’s a similar concept to agriculture, but with fish instead of plants or livestock. It can happen all over the world, and it does: in coastal ocean waters, freshwater ponds and rivers, and even on land in tanks.
Not only is aquaculture necessary, it is also a sustainable option for consumers, especially in comparison to other farmed proteins. Seafood is highly resource-efficient — it has the highest protein retention compared to chicken, pork and beef. It also has the lowest feed conversion ratio among the same forms of protein. Aquaculture has lower greenhouse gas emissions than other types of farming.
Aquaculture has the potential to improve the health of our planet and the health of our population, as long as it is done in a manner that is environmentally friendly, socially responsible, and considers food safety and animal welfare. Aquaculture also represents a very efficient method by which to produce sustainable feed for livestock, and even reduce farming emissions. Utilization of seaweed as a feed supplement for animals is not a new phenomenon and feeding seaweed to cows is a viable long-term method to reduce the emission of planet-heating gases from their burps and flatulence.
It is clear that the aquaculture industry has great potential in helping to provide healthy and sustainable protein for future generations.
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Tedx Talk: Perry Raso examines his path to developing sustainable aquaculture in Rhode Island, and points to the global need as protein demands rise and fisheries decline
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Challenge Investing
Within our universe, we have a significant number of companies that are helping to profitably address these significant and vitally important global challenges. If you’d like to invest in some of the most promising growth companies based on top research then please don't hesitate to get in touch.
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