The climate impact of meat is hidden, Bill Gates has warned - but the billionaire believes that plant-based meat is the ‘future’.
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Fertiliser and cows are a hidden cause of climate change, Bill Gates has claimed - but plant-based meat is “the future.”
Most people still don’t know how agriculture contributes to climate change, the billionaire claims - specifically the methane emissions from livestock and fertilisers.
"Of all the climate areas, the one that people are probably least aware of is all the fertiliser and cows, and that's a challenge," Gates recently said on the latest episode of his podcast, "Unconfuse Me."
The topic came up because Gates was in conversation with musician and director Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, who, like Gates, also happens to be an early investor in several plant-based food startups, such as Impossible and NotCo.
Thompson, who is from Philadelphia, even recently partnered with Impossible to create a plant-based cheesesteak that counts former president Barack Obama as a fan, he told Gates.
Thompson told Gates he was won over by plant-based foods' ability to mimic the taste of real meat, among other products.
"Something told me plant-based is going to be the future … and I want to be the person that plants the seed," he said.
What is the agricultural impact of climate change?
The agricultural industry contributes roughly 24 per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, with much of that stemming from methane emissions from livestock and fertilizer used to cultivate crops, according to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Beef produces the most greenhouse gas emissions, which include methane. A global average of 50kg of greenhouse gases is released per 99 grams of beef.
While plant-based foods have won support from those looking for alternatives to products made from animals, Gates said that he started backing plant-based food ventures because of their potential to combat climate change.
"I came to it more from that climate angle," he said
In fact, if cattle "were a country," Gates wrote in 2018, "they would be the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases [in the world]."
In his 2021 book, "How to Avoid a Climate Disaster," Gates wrote that effectively combating climate change will take people being willing to commit to new ideas, like switching to electric cars and synthetic meats.
That same year, Gates argued that wealthy countries that have the resources to do so "should move to 100% per cent synthetic beef" in order to meaningfully reduce global emissions from livestock, he told the MIT Technology Review. "You can get used to the taste difference, and the claim is they're going to make it taste even better over time," he said at the time.
"Eventually, that green premium is modest enough that you can sort of change the [behaviour of] people or use regulation to totally shift the demand."
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How is Bill Gates supporting plant-based beef?
Plant-based meat sales still represent just a small percentage of the total meat market, and even Gates admits it will be difficult to convince enough people to stop eating real meat to make a significant difference.
One issue is that the still relatively new products are currently more expensive than real meats.
That's why Gates and his foundation have financially backed plant-based and lab-grown meat startups such as Impossible, Beyond Meat and Upside Foods. He's also backed Neutral, a carbon-neutral food startup.
Speaking to Thompson about the plant-based meat startups, like Impossible, Gates said that "they're doing well, but a lot of people want him to make [the product] even slightly better." "They have a good roadmap, so I'm optimistic," he said.
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FAQs
“There's a lot of climate exaggeration,” said Gates, who founded Microsoft and is now a philanthropist. “The climate is not the end of the planet. So the planet is going to be fine.”
What does Bill Gates have to do with Beyond Meat? ›
After confessing his love for cheeseburgers, Gates discussed the advancements in plant-based meats. The tech billionaire was an early investor in several alternative meat companies, including Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat, and Upside Foods (a cultivated meat company focusing on chicken).
How much of climate change is caused by meat? ›
But it comes with a steep cost: our appetite for meat is bad for the environment and climate change — responsible for between 11 and 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, and a constant drain on our planet's water and land reserves.
What kind of meat is Bill Gates making? ›
UPSIDE Foods, a California-based lab-grown meat company, recently announced that it received approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to start commercial production and sales of its cultivated chicken.
What does Elon Musk say about climate change? ›
On climate issues, Mr. Musk described himself as “pro-environment,” saying that the electric vehicles produced by Tesla, his car company, disproved the idea that “caring about the environment should mean that you have to suffer.” Mr. Trump emphasized the importance of fossil fuels to the economy.
What does Jeff Bezos think about climate change? ›
I want to work alongside others both to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change on this planet we all share. This global initiative will fund scientists, activists, NGOs — any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world.
What is the fake meat called? ›
A meat alternative or meat substitute (also called plant-based meat, mock meat, or fake meat sometimes pejoratively), is a food product made from vegetarian or vegan ingredients, eaten as a replacement for meat.
What does Beyond Meat do to your body? ›
The clinical trial reported the positive impact of replacing animal-based meat with Beyond Meat's plant-based meat over an eight-week period, including the improvement of several cardiovascular disease risk factors, such as LDL cholesterol levels and TMAO.
Why did Beyond Meat collapse? ›
The company spent too much money in its infancy and is now stuck with more debt burden than can be supported by its sales. Interested investors would be better served by looking for other names with a more promising future.
Why is beef the worst food for the climate? ›
The longer explanation: Cows and other ruminant animals (like goats and sheep) emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas, as they digest grasses and plants. This process is called “enteric fermentation,” and it's the origin of cows' burps.
It contributes not only to global warming but also causes direct environmental pollution. People who eat a lot of meat can help fight the climate crisis by reducing or quitting meat consumption altogether. Even substituting other meat for beef would considerably reduce greenhouse gas emission.
Should I stop eating meat? ›
Diets that limit or exclude meat have been linked to weight loss and a reduced risk of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Yet, this risk reduction depends on overall diet quality. Also, plant-based diets can lack important nutrients if you don't plan them well.
What is the most eaten meat on the planet? ›
Pork, for example, is the most consumed meat globally, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, making up 36% of the world's meat intake.
Is Lab meat a real meat? ›
Is Lab-Grown Meat Actually Meat? Yes, cultivated meat is grown from animal cells, and while it is not identical to the tissues of a living animal, it is made from the same materials and has nearly the same structure. For all intents and purposes, lab-grown meat is indeed actually meat.
Can vegans eat man made meat? ›
Cruelty-Free
For some vegans, cultivated meat may cross an ethical line because it still relies on animal cells and byproducts. However, other vegans argue that if cultivated meat can replace the demand for conventionally-produced meat and mitigate the suffering of billions of animals, it should be considered vegan.
What has NASA said about climate change? ›
They found that, since 2000, days have been getting longer by about 1.33 milliseconds per 100 years, a faster pace than at any point in the prior century. The cause: the accelerated melting of glaciers and the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets due to human-caused greenhouse emissions.
What did Bill Nye say about global warming? ›
Nye noted that in the “audience's lifetime,” the percentage of the atmosphere that is carbon dioxide, the most prominent greenhouse gas causing global warming, has increased from 0.03% to 0.04%. That seemingly tiny change, he said, “is changing the world.”
Is there any truth to climate change? ›
Human activities are changing the climate
Rigorous analysis of all data and lines of evidence shows that most of the observed global warming over the past 50 years or so cannot be explained by natural causes and instead requires a significant role for the influence of human activities.
What is the biggest contributor to global warming? ›
Fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – are by far the largest contributor to global climate change, accounting for over 75 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90 per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions. As greenhouse gas emissions blanket the Earth, they trap the sun's heat.
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