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🐮 The climate impact of our cow-derived products is udder-ly high! On our Decarbonizing Agriculture issue, we talked about how rice is a major source of greenhouse gases (GHGs). However, cattle are the #1 source of GHGs within the agriculture sector globally, primarily due to the methane (CH₄)—a GHG that has a higher global warming potential than carbon dioxide—emissions from their burps (UC Davis, 2019).

📈 Yet in spite of this, the cattle industry continues to beef up production and milk their profits. Globally, beef production has quadrupled in the past 50 years (Our World in Data, 2023) and in more recent times, large companies such as Tyson and JBS have seen their revenues increase by 34% & 66% respectively between 2010 & 2020 (In These Times, 2021).

😲 ⁉️ Is this trend going to continue unabated?

🥩 Moo-ve out of the way, cattle industry, plant-based food & alternative meat producers are here to help consumers make mistakes missed steaks…

🤔 What’s the deal with Plant-based Food?

🏆 Animal-based protein contributes to high GHG emissions, with beef as the reigning champion on a per gram of protein basis.

🏭 So where are these GHG emissions coming from? Well, as we mentioned above, CH₄ is indeed a major source. Beyond CH₄ though, emissions related to land-use change / deforestation also matter, with such emissions accounting for almost 15% of total GHG emissions of animal protein production (FAO, 2013). This is a particularly relevant area for Southeast Asia since agriculture & land-use change is the second largest source of GHGs in the region (ClimateWatch, 2020).

🥩 Per capita meat production & consumption continues to grow, with Asia driving this trend. The reason for this is because as consumers get wealthier they demand more meat, and suppliers respond accordingly. Countries in Asia tend to have exhibited high per capita GDP growth over the past few decades, hence the increase in meat production across the continent. In fact, China now boasts the highest meat production in the world after overtaking the US in 1990.

🌏 Within Southeast Asia specifically, the Indonesian and Vietnamese markets are expected to grow the fastest, at 3.9% and 4.5% a year respectively, the highest in the region (Southeast Asia Globe, 2016).

💡 The solution is of course to shift our diets towards a more plant-based one. Alternative proteins or plant-based food can reduce the environmental impact of our food system by conserving land and water, as well as minimizing greenhouse gas emissions & other pollution through land and water efficiency, and cause significantly less air and water pollution (GFI, 2022).

👣 Let’s take the environmental footprints of dairy vs plant-based milk for instance:

🥛 Beyond the environmental dimension, an increasing number of people are choosing meat and dairy alternatives for ethical (i.e. animal cruelty) and health reasons as well. Moreover, many people do not naturally produce lactase, which is the enzyme responsible for the digestion of the milk sugar called lactose; in Asia in particular, the prevalence of this lactose intolerance is between 70 to 100% (Medline, 2023). Later on, we’ll be featuring a startup that’s evangelizing an oat-based alternative milk.

🌱 Finally, plant-based foods are already popular in traditional Southeast Asian cuisine, with foods such as tempeh originating from Indonesia hundreds of years ago (Gadjah Mada University, 2007). So overall, we’re quite optimistic that the Southeast Asian palate can take their missed steaks!

📚 Want to learn more about this topic?

1. “Meat and Dairy Production” from Our World in Data

2. “Greenhouse gas emissions from agrifood systems” from Food & Agriculture Organization

3. “Landmark UN Report: Meat & Dairy Alternatives Can Significantly Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions” from Green Queen

📢 Shout-out to OATSIDE!

😋 OATSIDE’s mission is to provide a healthy, sustainable oat milk for people who don’t care for plant milks, by being incredibly delicious. As one of Asia’s only full-stack plant milk startups, OATSIDE is committed to delivering high-quality oat milk from its state-of-the-art facility, ensuring that the process from oat to milk is sustainably-sourced and unadulterated for consumers enjoyment.

💚 Oat milk is inherently more sustainable compared to dairy, 70% less carbon emissions, 90% less land use, & 90% less water consumption. But at OATSIDE we wanted to take it a step further, such as installing natural gas boilers in our factory to reduce carbon emissions even further, and using recyclable paper carton packaging that is Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified.

🔮 Looking into the future, OATSIDE aims to be a global innovator and continue to review our processes as we gradually become a recognised brand to serve markets beyond Asia. We keep looking to collaborate with organizations and brands to democratize oat milk for Indonesian. OATSIDE can be contacted at [email protected]

🗞️ Recent News

👍🏻 Good News

👎🏻 Bad News

📢 Other Voices

🎙️ Interview with Helga & Max of Burgreens & Green Rebel Foods

💡 Why were you initially inspired to work on plant-based/vegan food to begin with?

👩🏽 Helga: I became a vegetarian when I was 15 years old for health reasons. I used to struggle with multiple allergies to foods and pollution, asthma, and sinusitis throughout my toddlerhood all the way to teenhold - and they all went away after 2 years of being vegetarian. As I went into college and met Max (my life partner and co-founder), we naturally transitioned to become vegan for environmental and ethical reasons. Max then went on further by studying Plant-based Nutrition on E-Cornell which convinced us that plant-based meals serve as a cornerstone of healthy diets - regardless if the diet is fully plant-based or still contains limited animal products. Whole-food plant-based diet, Mediterranean diet, DASH diet… you name it. 

👨🏽 Max: I used to cook for fellow Indonesian students living in the Netherlands and as I became vegetarian then vegan, so did my cooking. Fellow students kept enjoying my plant-based meals and said “I could be a vegetarian, if my meals tasted like this.” That comment gave us the ‘aha’ moment that if we can make healthy plant-based meals that taste good and are culturally relevant, people actually enjoy eating them. That’s why we started Burgreens back in 2013 and Green Rebel in 2020.

🛠️ How exactly is Burgreens & Green Rebel taking action against this problem?

🍛 Burgreens is a plant-based restaurant chain with 8 outlets in Greater Jakarta & Bali. We are here to give urban consumers delicious meal options that are both healthy and sustainable. The menu ranges from Western delicacies such as steak and pasta, to Asian favorites such as nasi Padang, black pepper beef-less rice bowls, sweet & sour chick’n and vegan boba.

Green Rebel is a FMCG arm, making Asian flavored plant-based meat and dairy-free cheese. Green Rebel empowers food services such as Starbucks, IKEA, and Tous Le Jour to provide plant-based offerings in their menu, as well as provide consumers with convenient healthy meals that can be heated up under 5 minutes. Some of Green Rebel signature products include Indonesian rendang curry, mushroom-based steak, and truffle cheddar cheese. Now, you can find Green Rebel products in about 1,500 doors in Indonesia, Singapore, and Vietnam - with plans to expand to 5,000 doors in Southeast Asia this year.

😲 What is a misconception or surprising fact about plant-based food/veganism?

💪🏻 Number #1 misconception is that plant proteins are incomplete in essential amino acids, and therefore are of lower quality than animal protein. The fact is all plant foods contain all essential amino acids in varying proportions. When we combine legumes (which is low in methionine, but high in all others) with grains (which is low in lysine, but high in others) - we get all the complete essential amino acids at the right proportions. And as Asians, who would eat tempeh and tofu without rice or noodles? :D

💥 Number #2 misconception is eating more plant-based meals do not help the environment as much as energy transition. Animal agriculture is the largest GHG emitter within the food system, accounting for 15% of global emissions (this excludes fishing), equivalent to the whole transportation sector.  You’d be surprised to know that ii alternative protein can replace 11% of meat consumption by 2030, we’ll be able to decarbonize about 95% emissions of the whole aviation industry. Investing in alternative protein is also the most capital effective investment to reduce emissions compared to other climate tech (BCG report, 2022 ). I’m not saying we shouldn’t invest in energy transition, but we will never meet our carbon budget even if all the cars we drive are electric cars, without changing the protein we eat.

🫛 Number #3 misconception is that soy is not good for health and environment. This is an incorrect understanding as soy contains phytoestrogen (not estrogen typically found in animal products that is linked with increased cancer risk) that is actually protective of cancer. Also, 77% of soy production in the world is fed to livestock, which then converts into meat contributing only to 18% of total calories globally. If that amount of soy is given directly to humans, we can feed an additional 4 billion people on Earth.

🎬 What actions can readers take now to support Burgreens/Green Rebel?

📣 The easiest way to support Burgreens and Green Rebel is enjoying our products and sharing that to your family or friends. Connections to restaurant or supermarket owners in Southeast Asia will also help to expand Green Rebel’s distribution footprint. Both Burgreens and Green Rebel are currently fundraising, so connections to mission-aligned investors will be helpful!

🦸🏻 What do you do when you’re not saving the world?

👶🏻 Staying at home with our baby (who is soon becoming a toddler!) and 4 fur kids 🐕. With Green Rebel being in expansion mode, we often travel and have a really packed schedule—even on weekends—so a relaxing weekend at home is a true luxury for us 💆🏻!

⏭️ Next week, we’ll be covering precision agriculture, so stay tuned to see how innovators in the region are putting the “Tech” in AgriTech!

❓ Did you enjoy this week’s issue? If yes, please do forward to your friends who would enjoy the read as well. Also, feel free to let us know what you thought by giving us feedback at [email protected].

🌊 SEA you next week!

Karina & Massimiliano