Meat proteins can play a vital role in creating a sustainable food system as long as the meat eaten by billions of people every day is produced and consumed responsibly. This is the message from a newly-established global coalition highlighting meat as a high-quality protein source, while recognizing that moves are needed to mitigate its environmental impact.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and 14 member companies have launched the Responsible Meat Initiative (ReMI). 

This group – backed by some key players in the protein space, including ADM, Bayer, Bühler, Compass Group, CP Group, Corteva, DSM, Evonik, Maple Leaf, Niman Ranch, Protix, Rabobank and Tyson – is leading the charge for responsible meat production, initially focusing on the pork supply chain.ReMi aims to scale up responsible meat and focus on the high-quality protein source narrative around meat production and consumption.  

Mobilizing action
The initiative takes what it describes as a “whole value chain approach that mobilizes businesses action around meat production,” aiming to scale up responsible meat and focus on the high-quality protein source narrative around meat production and consumption. 

ReMI acknowledges that meat is an integral part of many food cultures and a critical source of nutrition. Still, its current production, supply and consumption have a significant environmental and social impact.

These adverse effects are not aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, 1.5-degree climate change objective outlined in the Paris Agreement and the aims of COP26. 

Propelling proteins
It’s reached such a point wher significant stakeholders working with meat need to find another way to hail the benefits of meat production and consumption but sharpen the focus on responsibility. 

Providing enough protein for the 10 billion people predicted by 2050 with limited resources is an enormous challenge for the global agriculture industry. 

Science-backed start-ups in the cell-based space are playing their part in creating a whole new industry, one that is commercializing lab-grown meat, poultry, seafood and fish to circumnavigate the environmental impacts of raising and slaughtering animals for protein consumption. 

And, of course, the plant-based sector continues to grow, all the time focusing on alternative proteins needed to feed the world’s ballooning population. 

But what does responsible meat mean?

Achieving a responsible meat landscape will require three levers of change, according to the group: defining the material aspects of responsible meat production and consumption, realizing the true value of responsible meat (at the consumer, foodservice and retail levels) and helping this demand signal reach the producers who are most central to transforming practices.

Due to the size and footprint of the global meat sector, even small changes have the potential for considerable aggregate positive impact. 

“Better defining responsible meat and mobilizing consumers is a crucial enabler of more productive, regenerative and resilient food systems,” says Peter Bakker, WBCSD president and CEO. Providing enough protein for the 10 billion people predicted by 2050 with limited resources is an enormous challenge for the global agriculture industry. 

Focus on pork 
The group calls on all businesses in the pork value chain to join. 

At approximately 30 kg CO2e per 100g of protein, pork is significantly more impactful on the environment than legumes and plant-based protein, but with a much lower impact compared to beef production (at 50 kg CO2e per 100 g). 

The group says it’s vital to take a “big picture” perspective with regard to overall environmental impact, stressing that more consideration should be given to the role that pork may play in a future sustainable food system. 

However, despite growing consumer concern on the sustainability aspects of food, it remains a challenge to shift consumer decisions at the point of sale. 

Changing food systems 
With an initial focus on the pork supply chain, ReMI aims to overcome this barrier by better defining responsible meat to support changes in business operations throughout the value chain that mobilize and harness the demand.

WBCSD wanted to determine motivations, barriers and levers to shift consumer behavior toward more sustainable meat products. It analyzed 67 research papers using the RARE Center for Behavior and the Environment methodology that provides members with potential market interventions for use as prototypes, testing, improving and launching to market. 

Next year, the group plans to hone in on action areas to move toward responsible meat and change food systems for the better.

In 2022 these action areas will be supplemented with a list of criteria on which current performance may be benchmarked. Individual and collective actions to recognize the importance of responsible meat production and consumption are now needed to change food systems for the better. 

“The Responsible Meat Initiative will help achieve regenerative and equitable food systems while also improving practices in animal husbandry and welfare,” says Diane Holdorf, executive vice president, WBCSD.

“Taking responsibility from feed to fork is crucial as we progress into the 21st century.”

Shared planet
The launch of ReMI is timely. It comes amid rising numbers of flexitarians, vegans and vegetarians, massive consumer trends toward plant-based eating and purchasing decisions based on the environmental credentials of products and brands. 

Globally, an increasing number of consumers consider plant-based alternatives to be healthier and better for the planet. In contrast, the planet’s health is more important to consumers than ever before because they understand the intrinsic links between global food systems and adverse impacts on the environment. 

Innova Market Insights has just crowned “Shared Planet” as its Top Ten Trend for 2022. 

The trend focuses on how both industry and consumers can play their part in shaping a sustainable future. The market researcher underscores that consumers now rank planetary health as their number one concern, overtaking personal health, the top priority in recent years.