Page 12 - Food&Drink August 2022 magazine

BY ASSOCIATION
The urgent need to adopt alternatives
RIGHT: Swapping plant-based mince for beef for once a week reduces the same amount of emissions as taking a car off the road for a year.
BELOW: Plant-based proteins have the lowest carbon footprint of all proteins.
BELOW LEFT: Nick Hazell.
OUR VIEW OF FOOD MUST CHANGE
Food is one of the easiest ways we can make this happen. Producers and retailers form a major part of this change, having both a responsibility and opportunity to be part of the solution.
With sustainability now a key pillar of retailer strategies, plant based proteins provide a viable solution to reduce total emissions and work towards net carbon zero.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Australia’s average meat consumption alone hits 129 kilograms per person, per year, creating a global average of over four tonnes of annual carbon emissions.
We need to re-evaluate and do it fast.
Supplying this increased demand with declining natural resources, in a more volatile climate, is not feasible in the long run. Addressing the global food system is the neglected pillar of sustainability and climate change – and one we don’t talk about enough.
The planet can’t support billions of meat-eaters. Switching to a plant-based meat option is one of the most powerful, yet simple measures, you can take to reduce the
The need for dramatic action to address climate change only grows in urgency. Nick Hazell, chair of the Alternative Proteins Council and CEO/founder of v2food, looks at changes needed in the global food system and its role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
ACCORDING to the 2022 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, climate change is here and already impacting every corner of the world. What’s even scarier is that if we fail to halve greenhouse gas emissions and scale up adaptation this decade, there are much more severe impacts in store for us.
Look at it this way. The global aviation industry produces 2.5 per cent of the global carbon emissions.
The global food system however, produces 35 per cent of the global carbon emissions, with over a half (57 per cent) of these emissions coming from the production of animal-based foods, including meat, poultry, dairy products, growing crops to feed livestock, and pastures for grazing.
Food production (including on-farm production, and post-farm processes such as processing, and distribution) is responsible for around
26 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
With the world forecasted to reach 10 billion people by 2050, it’s more important than ever for us to find ways to create change and shape a sustainable future. Recent events including the federal election have highlighted that Australia is now hyper-sensitive to the climate change problem, how can we address these concerns throughout society?
12 | Food&Drink business | August 2022 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au