Why 'fake meat' can't become a fad, rice CRISPRed, 'post-ownership' cars and Vanessa Nakate vs MBS
A monthly newsletter from 33_Zero tracking developments in net zero culture.
If you’re new here and arrived via our ‘Windows on net zero culture’ research report, thanks for downloading - we hope it fired your thinking. If this is your second dispatch, thanks for staying subscribed. We want to keep this community excited by businesses’ progress towards net zero and tuned-in to the dramatic creative turnover it brings to brands, categories and consumer preferences as we know them.
“Better than any supermarket chicken”
Lab-grown meat took a giant step closer to the mainstream in June with news that Upside Foods and Good Meat both gained U.S. Department of Agriculture approval. This is the final link in the multi-stage process meaning their products will now go on sale to the public. Both companies plan to rollout first through high-end dining, due to the price point at this nascent stage. News swiftly followed that Upside’s product was the centrepiece of chef Dominique Crenn’s first meat dish since all three of her restaurants become meat-free in 2019. Crenn said of her first experience of Upside’s meat, “To my surprise and excitement, the chicken was juicy, delicious and better than any supermarket chicken breast I had eaten. I was sold.”
Why we can’t afford fake meat to become ‘just another fad’
The last 20 years has seen growing demand for grain across the world because of the explosive growth of the global middle class (look at how that chart arks upward going into the 21st century) and the rise in meat eating that comes with it. Grains are being diverted to animal feed.
We live in a moment when there are more global citizens with between $11 and $110 per capita per day (the disposable income measure) than ever before. Good news for living standards but this shifts diets from high starch to become more demanding of animal-based proteins.
About 25 calories is required to create just one calorie of beef. That’s a lot of grain going to meat farming. Or to put it another way: the meats are eating the grains. Grain commodity traders are rubbing their hands and settling in for a long-term bull market that won’t just continue to put pressure on already high food inflation, it’ll deprive poorer countries of basic sustenance.
Alt-meats like Impossible and Beyond Meat seem to have stalled and we are some way from an affordable solution from cellular / cultivated meat. But this maths makes the case for alt-meats inevitable. Business please step up.
See p.12 here for explanation of per capita GDP vs grain demand
Bloomberg puts the boot into cell-based meat
“DIVEST NOW”
50 world leaders met at the Paris Climate Summit last week - including Biden, Sunak, Brazil’s Lula, Barbados’ Mia Mottley and host Emanuel Macron - with a focus on facilitating the climate spending that needs to take place in order for developing countries to participate in global goals for net zero. A powerful meme emerged from the event when Ugandan climate activist, Vanessa Nakate, dressed in a t-shirt with the slogan ‘DIVEST NOW’ held a moment of silence for “people around the world who are already suffering, starving, being displaced, dropping out of school due to the devastating impacts of the climate crisis”. Would that the cameras could have juxtaposed her with oil supremo, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was reportedly sat squarely in front of her, sharing an audience that included the most powerful man on Wall St, head of Black Rock, Larry Fink.
Vanessa Nakate speaking in Paris, June 2023
EVs & ‘post-ownership’
McKinsey’s regular Mobility Consumer Pulse survey of 4,000 respondents from France, Germany, and the United Kingdom finds that, in stark contrast to combustion drivers, EV owners and considerers are more likely to prefer a leasing model over purchase or credit. This despite leasing models being confusing (many respondents were unsure who owned the car or falsely believed they retained ownership) and hard to shop. McKinsey speculate EV shoppers’ interest in leasing has to do with uncertainty over technology maturity, battery lifetime, and EV used-car markets. However, we could extrapolate a link between progressive electric appetite and a desire for post-purchase models of mobility. ‘Leasing’ as we know it is hardly breaking the mould but it’s the closest we have in the mainstream access model to a post-ownership paradigm for automotive. The fact remains that - electric or combustion - the car still spends most of its day sitting dormant on a driveway or street, depreciating. We need to find a way to enjoy mobility without the consumer picking up the cost of this dead surplus.
Rice CRISPRed
Last month we reported on CRISPR sausages. This month we have another breakthrough to celebrate thanks to this exciting gene-editing technology. We hear a lot about the potential of CRISPR to cure human illness, less about the breakthrough it could constitute for agriculture. Researchers at UC Davis have identified and edited for a mutant gene that gives resistance to a fungal disease that destroys 10 - 30% of global rice crop annually. There’s a way to go before implementation but the implications for food security in poor nations are exciting. Co-author of the study, Jenny Mortimer of the University of Adelaide, said, “Rice crops with higher yields are needed to meet growing global demand, and the results from this study could help shore up food supply in the future.”
Working with Earthtopia
33_Zero’s sister organisation, Earthtopia, is one of the largest eco-communities on TikTok with a far bigger audience than Greenpeace or Extinction Rebellion. We’ve worked with organisations like the UN, COP26 & The Earthshot Prize, as well as partnering with brands including Netflix, Nike, Nandos, YouTube & eBay.
How we work with brands:
Half-day workshops with 4- 6 members of the community assessing your sustainability initiatives, comms campaigns or NPD - designed with you, led by a brand strategist and written-up for practical impact
Bespoke qual research with 2 – 3 hrs immersion with each participant and audio & video outputs. Mobile ethnographies that take you inside the customer’s world, with content filmed by video-native TikTok creators
Our community is focussed on progress, they want to applaud corporate behaviour because they know we won’t succeed without it. Counter the ‘greenwashing’ default with credible endorsement from the most influential voices with the biggest communities
Email jamesp@33seconds.co to find out more.