Expert: Fake meat won’t have a huge eco impact

Plant-based and lab-grown meat substitutes aren’t likely to eliminate livestock agriculture’s climate and land use impacts anytime soon, says environmental scientist David Lobell.

“…if I had money to invest in this space I’d probably put it into a decent cheese replacement.”

Investors have poured billions of dollars into the meat alternatives sector to kickstart technologies that produce protein with ingredients such as peas, soybeans, mushrooms, and lab-grown animal cells. Regardless, policymakers would do well to focus on ways to dramatically reduce emissions of animal-based systems, says Lobell, director of Stanford University’s Center on Food Security and the Environment and professor of earth system science in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.

Lobell teaches a popular undergraduate course called “Re-Thinking Meat,” which assesses alternative protein sources and strategies for feeding a growing global population.

Here, Lobell discusses opportunities for shrinking agriculture’s environmental impacts, his hope for better-tasting cheese alternatives, and more: