One small step for man... one giant leap for plant-based meat? Impossible Foods is the privately held rival of publicly traded Beyond Meat. Last summer, Impossible raised $200M, got its sausage in Starbucks, and graced 7.5K Burger Kings with its planty Croissan'wich. This latest headline is different — but maybe even more significant:
- Former UN climate head Christiana Figueres will be joining Impossible's board of directors, according to Axios.
- As a creator of the Paris climate agreement, Figueres sees the food industry as "one of the main levers of change" on global warming. That's perfect, since...
- Impossible calls itself an "audacious yet realistic strategy to turn back the clock on climate change and stop the global collapse of biodiversity" (whoa).
pea.protein21 wants to join the convo... When we think of companies solving environmental issues, we generally think of EV makers and solar companies — not soy patties. But alt-meat has three narratives which people buy into: eating animals is morally bad, eating animals is "unhealthy," and/or eating animals (especially cows) is unsustainable.
- Impossible + Beyond's burgers generate ~90% less greenhouse gas emissions and require dramatically less water & land to grow than beef.
- Sustainable energy takes the environmental spotlight, but Figueres' move could help highlight the impact of food and agriculture, too.
It's a perfect time to grow the conversation... Biden has pledged $2T to creating a "clean energy future," which includes subsidies/incentives for green tech. Figueres' experience could help loop plant-based meat into the convo with lawmakers, companies, and consumers. It seems far-fetched, but if public schools and corporate cafeterias got incentivized to buy plant-based, companies like Impossible could take on even fresher relevance. After all, one in four Americans are already cutting back on meat-eating.