Earth Day: Aleph Farms prioritizes carbon neutrality by 2025 despite COVID-19 hurdles

22 Apr 2020 --- Israeli cell-based innovator Aleph Farms’ latest environmental sustainability strategy aims to eliminate emissions associated with its meat production by 2025 and reach the same net-zero emissions across its entire supply chain by 2030. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the slaughter-free pioneer consolidates its approach for food system resilience to cope with local and global supply chain disruptions that put food securities at risk and also to promote natural ecosystem preservation and reduce friction points with wild animals. The company is also preparing for its active pilot-plant (BioFarm) operations next year.

The cell-based meat innovator – which last October became the first company to produce meat on the International Space Station without dependency on local natural resources.– cultivates real steak without harming animals or the environment.

It is calculated that food production is responsible for over a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, while agriculture uses half of the world’s habitable land and 70 percent of the freshwater withdrawals. In addition, 94 percent of mammal biomass (excluding humans) is livestock, outweighing wild mammals by a factor of 15 to 1 while posing a threat to the conservation of biodiversity, according to the company. 

Aleph Farms’ move sets to limit global warming to 1.5°C as targeted under the Paris climate agreement and translates the European Green Deal resolutions into actionable climate practices that decrease ecological footprints of food production on a global scale. 

“The resilience of our food system lays in the core of our company’s vision, as we strive towards feeding and nurturing a clean planet where everything can thrive, the people and the planet as one, and leave a better legacy for generations to come,” Aleph Farms Co-Founder and CEO Didier Toubia tells FoodIngredientsFirst. “As a food system, it is our responsibility to provide experiences that celebrate food as a source of pleasure and as fuel of essential nutrients required to maintain good health, but also provide it in the limits of our world’s environmental carrying capacity,” he continues. 

Together with its sustainability advisory board; Aleph Farms is “paving the road towards strengthening the resilience of our food system,” says Toubia. “Our slaughter-free and antibiotic-free production method of meat, enables our natural ecosystem to be preserved and eliminates any friction points with infected animal-protein products responsible for outbreaks and resurgence infectious diseases. Today, more than ever, we feel the depth of our responsibility to the world around us,” he explains. 

“We are at a pivotal point in human history where we must collectively make systemic changes that address global crises, such as climate change, the rapid depletion of natural resources, massive food shortages and threats to public health,” Toubia outlines. “Just as our ancestors made transitions in order to adjust to new situations, we believe that the next progression occurs in food systems, one of the main players who could offset their contribution to these issues,” he underscores. 

As Aleph Farms prepares for active pilot-plant (BioFarm) operations next year and advances its commercial prototype, the company has set the bar higher for its sustainable development goals and innovation.As Aleph Farms prepares for active pilot-plant (BioFarm) operations next year and advances its commercial prototype, the company has set the bar higher for its sustainable development goals and innovation, Toubia highlights.

“We have to rethink the way we use our natural resources, but our sustainability approach encompasses not only aggressive environmental goals. It also targets social, nutritional and economic objectives. We are identifying challenges and bottlenecks, engaging with experts and youth leaders, raising awareness and driving innovation across the entire value chain to accelerate the necessary global transition of our food system into the right direction,” he elaborates. 

This year, Earth Day has a stronger meaning than ever before, according to Toubia. Although the spotlight is on the coronavirus outbreak, the impact of the actions we make today, on the world around us and on our future – has become even clearer,” he asserts. As the world rushes to plan for a post-pandemic recovery, this is the time for us to use our solidarity, adds Toubia. 

How will COVID-19 disrupt the food system?
Amid the COVID-19 health crisis, Toubia sees the approach to sustainability as “the driving force that will help us consolidate our resilience to the current and upcoming disruptions in food systems, globally.”

“At a time when the occurrence of regional and global crisis is increasing – African swine fever, Australian fires, COVID-19 – food system resilience is at the core of Aleph Farms’ objectives  and the key to building a better future,” Toubia affirms. 

Aleph Farms hopes that it can play a part in preventing future crises like this from reoccurring. “More importantly, we build a fully controlled supply chain to ensure that Aleph’s meat is safe and contaminate-free. We do not expect any changes in our timeline,” he details. 

Opportunities in cultivated meat
Striving to nourish the world and provide unconditional access to high-quality, safe and affordable nutrition to a growing population, Aleph Farms is in talks with livestock farmers to integrate cultivated meat as part of a solution set to fundamental challenges that the agriculture industry is facing, such as eroding revenues and increased retirement rate in developed countries. 

Aleph Farms’ innovation has been selected by Netexplo Forum, in partnership with UNESCO, as one of the “ten most promising innovations of the year” for its positive impact and sustainable development. 

“The way food systems across the world utilize the world’s finite resources wields a major influence on the direction in which climate change, food security, and socio-economic consequences will follow,” adds Dr. Lee Recht, Head of Sustainability at Aleph Farms. “We see the situation and the challenges through an ‘innovation lens’ that helps us understand the responsibility we share and the impact we have on the state of our world and our people.”

By Elizabeth Green