In recognition of the 50^th anniversary of Earth Day, cultured meat company Aleph Farms, which is the first company to cultivate steaks directly from cells and produce meat on the International Space Station, has announced its new sustainability strategy, which entails eliminating emissions associated with its meat production by 2025 and reach the same net-zero emissions across its entire supply chain by 2030.
 
The company’s cellular cultivation process involves doing no harm to animals, or the environment, both of which take place during the conventional production of meat. Aleph Farms’ estimates are that food production is responsible for over a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions globally. Additionally, half of the world’s habitable land, and 70 percent of freshwater withdrawals are currently being used by meat agriculture. Additionally, 94 percent of the mammal biomass is livestock, outweighing wild mammals by a factor of 15-to-1, which has serious implications for the environment within and beyond issues regarding biodiversity in the global ecosystem.
 
“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,” Lee Recht, PhD, head of Sustainability at Aleph Farms, said.
 
Aleph Farms believes that its strategy will be a factor in reducing global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius as targeted by the Paris climate agreement, and translate the European Green Deal resolutions into actionable practices that decrease ecological footprints of food production on a global scale.
 
Netexplo Forum, in partnership with UNESCO, named the company’s product in its “10 most promising innovations of the year” in terms of positive impact and sustainable development.
 
The meat which the company produced on the International Space Station without dependency on local natural resources and without the slaughtering of animals, using a 3D bioprinting technology.
 
They’re also engaging in a dialogue with livestock farmers to integrate cultivated meat as part of a solution to the fundamental challenges that the agriculture industry is facing, such as eroding revenues and an increased retirement rate in developed countries.
 
Finally, the company states that its modus operandi is to actively support the capacity of current and future generations to maintain access to high-quality, safe, and affordable nutrition, and support the transition of the entire supply chain toward a carbon-neutral system.
 
Additionally, the company formed a sustainability board, sitting on which are Danielle Nierenberg, Food Tank president and and expert on sustainable agriculture and food issues, Aimee Christensen, CEO of Christensen Global Strategies and founding executive advisor/ consultant of the Sun Valley Institute, and Marc Buckley, an advocate for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, and a climate change speaker trained by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.
 
Aleph Farms also formed its Z-Board, a discussion panel engaging with Generation Z leaders, and is collaborating with Black and Veatch, a global engineering and construction company, to build sustainable infrastructure for future large-scale production with foundational principles of circular economy and renewable energy.  
 
“At a time when the occurrence of regional and global crisis is increasing- African Swine Fever, Australia fires, COVID-19- food system resilience is at the core of Aleph Farms’ vision and the key to building a better future for generations that follow,” Didier Toubia, co-founder and CEO of Aleph Farms, said. “We have to rethink the way we use our natural resources, but our sustainability approach encompasses not only aggressive environmental goods. 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 in order to accelerate the necessary global transition of our food system into the right direction.”