This article by The Good Food Institute explores global trends in investment in alternative proteins during 2022. Alternative protein companies raised $2.9 billion globally in 2022 - a 42% decrease compared to 2021, which followed several years of increasing global investment in alternative proteins. The article attributes 2022’s lower investment to broader market conditions, as economy-wide private venture funding also declined 35% in 2022. The article also sets out the results of an investor survey showing that 99% of respondents remain optimistic about the alternative protein sector in the long term.

This briefing note by think tank ECDPM sets out a five-step methodology, developed by ECDPM and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), for stimulating investments in sustainable food systems by strengthening collaboration between public and private actors. It also outlines lessons learned from the application of the methodology in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya and Niger.

Consumers are familiar with alternative proteins and many would eat more of them if barriers around health, taste and price were to be resolved, according to this report by consultancy BCG and investment firm Blue Horizon. The report also tracks investment in the alternative proteins sector (which has risen from $1 billion in 2019 to $5 billion in 2021) as well as regulatory support. The report calculates that substituting 8% of animal-sourced foods with alternative proteins could reduce 1.5% of global emissions in 2030; furthermore, plant-based proteins could generate at least three times more carbon savings per $1 trillion invested than decarbonisation in other sectors such as cement, iron, buildings and so on.

This investor briefing by the Changing Markets Foundation surveyed over 200 respondents from the investment community on their perceptions of how climate change may affect the meat and dairy industry. 82% agreed that climate change presents risks to the industry. 84% are concerned that a lack of climate mitigation could lead to stranded assets (investments or resources that become unprofitable, in this case due to water shortages or temperature increases; the term is commonly used to refer to fossil fuel resources that cannot be burned). 94% think that reducing methane as well as carbon dioxide emissions is important.

A group of 33 institutional investors, holding over US$14 trillion assets, have written to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to ask for a clear global roadmap for the transition to a sustainable food system by 2050. They raise concern about the financial risks to which the food system is exposed as a result of environmental damage, and ask for clear targets on emissions reduction (including methane) within each food subsector. The letter is coordinated by the FAIRR Initiative.

This report by the Global Alliance for the Future of Food and Transformational Investing in Food Systems Initiative describes six case studies of food initiatives that have used unique investment strategies, such as a Mexican beekeeping cooperative that used loans from specialist agricultural and ethical banks that have lower interest rates than commercial banks. It also sets out five recommendations for how the investment community can support the transition to healthy, equitable food systems.

The Good Food Institute has published a series of four reports giving the latest industry and investment updates about alternative proteins, including plant-based foods, fermentation, cellular agriculture, and alternative seafood.

The Commission on Sustainable Agriculture Intensification has published two policy briefs: the first seeks to understand the agricultural innovation investment landscape - how much is being invested, by whom, and in what; while the second looks at the approaches and instruments used in successful cases of scaling up agricultural innovations.