Impossible Foods has won an environmental award from the United Nations and urged youth activists to accelerate the global transition to a sustainable food system.
The Silicon Valley food tech startup clinched the 2019 United Nations Global Climate Action Award, part of the UN’s wider effort to mobilise action and ambition as national governments work towards implementing the goals of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. The award came in the “Planetary Health” category, which recognises novel solutions that balance the need for human health and a healthy planet.
Dr Patrick O. Brown, CEO and founder of Impossible Foods, accepted the award with other winners at the 2019 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25) in Madrid, Spain. Taking place from 2-13 Dec 2019, the COP25 environmental conference saw more than 25,000 participants from nearly 200 countries and about 50 heads of state. The conference focuses in part on how to reduce the impact of the meat-centric food system, including the depletion of freshwater, emissions of toxic greenhouse gases (GHG) and biodiversity collapse.
#MEATISHEAT
Impossible Foods has further launched the #MeatisHeat social campaign from COP25 to enhance awareness of food’s environmental footprint.
The scientific community has realised that shifting to a plant-based diet is a “simple, realistic” solution to the existential threat of global climate change – not merely a way to reduce ongoing GHG emissions but a chance to turn back the clock on climate change.
Impossible Foods described that the act of raising animals for food overwhelmingly dominates the humanity’s land footprint. All the buildings, roads and paved surfaces in the world occupy less than 1% of Earth’s land surface, while 45% of the land surface of Earth is currently in use as land for grazing or growing feed crops for livestock. The company further labelled the global demand for meat, fish and dairy foods as the “primary driver of the catastrophic collapse in diverse wildlife populations and ecosystems on land and in oceans, rivers and lakes”.
Brown commented: “Unless we act quickly to reduce or eliminate the use of animals in the food system, we are racing towards ecological disaster. But I’m hopeful because younger generations are quickly discovering that ‘meat is heat’, and they are poised to turn us away from the brink of catastrophe.”
Big taste, small footprint
Based in Redwood City, California, Impossible Foods aims to combine modern science and technology to create delicious food, restore natural ecosystems, and feed a growing population sustainably. The company produces meat from plants. Its flagship product, Impossible Burger, is available in more than 17,000 restaurants in the US, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau.
