The Future Has Arrived: Meet the Startups Solving Climate by Fixing Food
Image courtesy of The Climate Foundation.
Words by Daniel Simons
When we imagine combating climate change, we usually think about net-zero pledges, solar panels, electric cars and keeping coal in the ground. But, what should be front of mind is what we put in our mouths. The relationship between diet and climate flows in two directions. The way we produce and consume food is one of our greatest contributors to climate change, and global warming is going to dramatically impact our ability to feed ourselves in the future. It's time for a food revolution. The good news is, it’s already here.
The world is already buckling under global heating’s devastating impact on our food supply and the challenges are only going to intensify as the planet heats up. Over a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions originate from our food system, while 70 percent of the planet’s fresh water and nearly half of its habitable land are used for agriculture. That agriculture – mostly animal – is responsible for over 75 percent of the world's deforestation.
Desertification, water shortages, top soil depletion and land-destroying megafires will all impinge on our ability to grow food, and future energy challenges and global conflicts could impact transportation.
As the world warms, the population is also ballooning. By 2050, Earth is projected to exceed nine billion inhabitants. That means within the next 30 years, we’ll need to double our food production at the same time as reducing our emissions by between 75 and 100 percent.
More than just nourishment that sustains life, food is the glue that holds society together, with famine being a tragic precursor to conflict and collapse. Global instability takes crucial focus away from the environment and our ability to combat climate change, which leads to a further crises spiral. The hunt is on for a new food system that can promise sufficient production, secure supply and consistent quality, all while reducing climate impacts.
The intertwined fates of climate and food can be daunting to the point of overwhelm. Luckily, all across the world optimists and inventors are convinced that fixing food is one of the greatest ways to combat climate change. There are a plethora of inspirational organisations building the new world. From charities tackling the sins of food waste, to startups developing innovations that seem like they come right out of science fiction, the nutrition of tomorrow is here and it’s ready to scale.
Image courtesy of Solar Foods.
Solar Foods: Making food out of thin air
Boasting to make food ‘out of thin air’, Solar Foods produces protein using carbon dioxide and electricity.
Founded in 2017, Solar Foods’ revolutionary invention, Solein, is a sustainable and animal-free protein that is grown from a single cell. It is made by extracting CO2 from the air using carbon-capture technology and solar energy and adding nutrients and vitamins which then undergo a fermentation process (similar to the one that produces yeast and lactic acid bacteria).
Solein can be produced anywhere in the world and does not use any agricultural inputs or require fertile land, plants or animals. It can even be grown in factories in the middle of cities, reducing the cost and impact of transportation.
Solein is a taste-free adaptable ingredient that can be added to the production of a variety of foods such as meat alternatives, dairy-free cheeses and yoghurts, and protein drinks. It can even be used as an egg substitute.
Solar Foods claims that Solein’s climate impact is 10 times less than plant protein and close to 100 times less than meat protein. It also uses a fraction of the water and zero pesticides. Its founders claim that Solein will be cost-competitive with all proteins (except for bulk-soy) and that after the initial factory outlay, the input costs are minimal.
Solar Foods is currently working with the European Space Agency to develop foods for off-planet production and consumption after successfully competing in NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge. It began building its first production facility in Finland in 2021, with a completion date set for 2023 and commercial production to follow soon after.
Image courtesy of Air Protein.
Air Protein: Real steak taste – no animals
Air Protein brings you the taste and texture of steak without the guilt.
Based on research developed by NASA in the 1960s, Air Protein grows microbes in a bioreactor powered by solar and wind energy, hydrogen, oxygen and industrial emissions. The ‘air meat’ is crafted using a similar process to that of beer and yoghurt and can be produced much faster than traditional meat. Currently, Air Protein uses captured CO2 from factories but in the future plans to capture, use and remove CO2 from the air.
The protein is purified and dried, resulting in a flour that contains more protein per kilogram than any other meat source. Flavours and other ingredients can then be added to the powder until it has the taste and texture of traditional beef, chicken, pork or seafood.
Air Protein is on a mission to build the world’s first carbon negative meat company. Its parent company, Kiverdi, has over 50 patents pending and is currently scaling up production, putting them on the path to commercial availability.
Image courtesy of Upside Foods.
Memphis Meats/ Upside Food: Guilt free animal products grown from stem cells
Known for creating the most famous meatball in history, Memphis Meats (rebranded to Upside Foods), became famous in 2016 when it developed the world’s first lab-grown meatball. This was followed by the world’s first cultured poultry in 2017.
Upside Foods is ready to scale and has the backing of Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Softbank Group, Temasek (backed by the Singapore government) and Kimbal Musk (Elon Musk’s brother). Its first commercially available lab-grown meat is ready to hit the shelves any day, pending regulatory approval.
OzHarvest: Rescuing food from landfill and feeding the needy
You don’t have to be high-tech or revolutionary to create change. Food waste accounts for more than six percent of global greenhouse emissions and Project Drawdown ranks minimising food waste as the third most effective solution to reduce global warming.
OzHarvest is Australia’s largest food rescue organisation. It saves and redistributes surplus food that would otherwise go to landfill and delivers it to vulnerable Australians in need.
OzHarvest has collaborated with over 1,500 charities, worked with over 3,000 food donors and provided over 200 million meals to people in need. That’s a lot of food waste saved from landfill!
Over a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions originate from our food system, while 70 percent of the planet’s fresh water and nearly half of its habitable land are used for agriculture.
Image courtesy of Bardee.
Within the next 30 years, we’ll need to double our food production while simultaneously reducing our emissions by between 75 and 100 percent.
Bardee: Fixing food waste, agriculture and water scarcity with insects
Even if we can’t rescue food and get it into the mouths of people who need it, we can still harness its discarded nutrients.
Founded in 2019 by Australian-based architect Phoebe Gardner and entomologist Alex Arnold, Bardee produces fats, fertilisers and proteins from food waste and insects. Using innovative processes and an army of black soldier flies, Bardee is able to recover 90 percent of the nutrients from food waste at 10 times the rate of traditional composting.
Boasting the largest recycling-oriented insect processing facility in Australia and using artificial intelligence to perfect its formulas, Bardee is simultaneously tackling food waste, water scarcity, deforestation, animal agriculture and plant nutrition. Its methods help create pet food, aquafeed, oil for poultry operations, plant fertiliser, and (one day) protein meal for humans. Bardee is already replacing meat that is fed to dogs and the soy used in fish food and they’re on track to create the world’s first carbon-positive eggs.
The Climate Foundation’s Sea Forestation Project, Marine Permaculture: Saving the world with seaweed
One of the most promising and exciting innovations set to tackle climate change and food scarcity is seaweed farming.
The Climate Foundation's Sea Forestation project aims to establish deepwater-irrigated, open-ocean seaweed marine culture as a way to grow food, regenerate ecosystem services and facilitate carbon sequestration.
As well as being a nutritional and scalable food source, seaweed can be harvested to create biostimulants that increase drought and heat resilience of crops and can help cut fertiliser requirements by 20 percent. Offshore seaweed platforms also relieve land pressures.
Founded by Dr Brian von Herzen, the project was supported by a $350,000 crowdfunding campaign driven by Damon Gameau’s 2040 film project and the Intrepid Foundation. It recently won the Elon-Musk funded Xprize milestone award for carbon removal.
Readily scalable, Marine Permaculture shows promise for feeding billions and removing gigatons of carbon from the atmosphere, without the need for high-tech interventions.