Would you eat a cookie with fake fat to save the planet?

You may not be willing to forgo the car or hamburgers for the sake of the planet. But would you eat cookies and chips made using fats created in the laboratory rather than natural palm or coconut oils for the sake of the future? Would you even notice the switch?

Our taste for meat and dairy is notoriously ruinous. Animal exploitation is responsible for nearly 15 percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gases; 9 percent of carbon dioxide; 37 percent of anthropogenic methane; 65 percent of anthropogenic nitrous oxide; and 64 percent of anthropogenic nitrogen – greenhouse gases all, according to the United Nations.

But plant cultivation isn’t clean either. Agriculture generates about a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions and is a monster to decarbonize.

Yet maybe some of those emissions can be avoided. Researchers from University of California, Irvine propose wide-scale substitution of fats in the food industry with synthetics made in the lab.

Frankly, that doesn’t sound appetizing any more than lab-grown flesh does, but there are differences – one being that artificial meat isn’t the same as the original foodstuff, while a fat molecule is a fat molecule is a fat molecule.

The paper “Food Without Agriculture,” by Steven Davis of UCI and colleagues, was published this week in Nature Sustainability. They point out that current efforts focus more on how to reduce the horrible environmental effects of agriculture, but almost no attention is going to the option of food without farming.

Efficient and Sustainable Solution

There is the notable exception of Hollywood, which in the 1973 blockbuster “Soylent Green” presciently predicted global warming resulting in mass starvation, which would be mitigated by turning dead people into crackers. That movie takes place in 2022, by which time the UCI team et al has thankfully managed to come up with a slightly less nauseating idea: to make artificial fats like plants do, by converting water and carbon dioxide.

You might shrink at the thought of consuming fake brie on a test tube-derived cracker, but the lab fats and plant fats would have the same molecular structure.

Also, honestly, do you read the label on your choc chip double dipped demi-croissant, and have you ever rejected one on the basis of the origin of its fat?

Crucially for the proposal, the lab-based manufacturing process would use less resources than Mother Nature. Cultivating palm oil, peanut oil and so on emits 1 to 3 grams of carbon dioxide per 1,000 calories. Molecularly identical fats synthesized from natural gas and electricity would produce less than a gram of CO2-equivalent emissions, the team assesses, and nearly zero if carbon dioxide is captured from the air and “green” electricity is used.

Efficient, effective carbon capture is not a thing yet, but baby steps. The idea could have real impact, though.

Potential Market and Environmental Benefits

The global cookie market was worth almost $220 billion in 2021 and has been growing, not least because some are rebranded as ostensibly not unhealthy “snacks,” according to Market Data Forecast (“New kinds and creative packaging are drawing in customers more and more”). Potato chips had a market of $32 billion in 2021 and it too is a growing market.

Lab manufacture of fats also uses less water than growing and processing plants, the team argues.

“Large-scale synthesis of edible molecules through chemical and biological means without agricultural feedstocks is a very real possibility,” said lead author Davis in a statement. “Such ‘food without the farm’ could avoid enormous quantities of climate-warming emissions while also safeguarding biodiverse lands that might otherwise be cleared for farms.”

That is a huge point above and beyond greenhouse gas emissions. In 2019, about half the world’s habitable land was used for agriculture, according to the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food. And the rainforests in South America and Asia are being rapidly cleared for expanding oil plantations.

Promising Approach for Sustainable Future

The University of California, Irvine explains that the researchers chose to focus on fats because we already make them for soap and other industries, and they’re simple to synthesize.

One snag is how people would handle the change. But would you really check to see that the oil in your treat isn’t from Merck rather than Mom’s farm?

“The beauty of the fats is that you can synthesize them with processes that don’t involve biology. It’s all chemistry, and because of that, you can operate at higher pressures and temperatures that allow excellent efficiency,” Davis said in the university’s statement. “You could therefore build big reactors to do this at large scales.”

He also points out that people generally don’t know what’s in their pie crust now, so one can speculate that they don’t care. Ooh, cookie.

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. SDG 13: Climate Action

   • Target 13.2: Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning.
   • Indicator: Percentage of countries that have integrated climate change measures into national policies and planning.

2. SDG 15: Life on Land

   • Target 15.1: By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services.
   • Indicator: Proportion of important sites for terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity that are covered by protected areas.

3. SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

   • Target 12.2: By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.
   • Indicator: Domestic material consumption per capita.
   • Indicator: Material footprint, per capita, of the domestic territory.

Analysis

The article discusses the potential substitution of fats in the food industry with synthetics made in the lab as a way to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture. This is connected to several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their targets:

1. SDG 13: Climate Action

The article highlights the environmental impact of agriculture, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. By finding alternatives to traditional farming methods, such as lab-grown fats, it can help reduce these emissions and contribute to climate action.

2. SDG 15: Life on Land

The article mentions that a significant portion of habitable land is currently used for agriculture. By reducing the need for agricultural land through the use of lab-grown fats, it can help conserve and restore terrestrial ecosystems and their services.

3. SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

The article discusses the potential benefits of lab-grown fats, such as lower resource use and emissions compared to traditional farming methods. This aligns with the target of achieving sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.

Based on the article’s content, the specific targets that can be identified are:

• Target 13.2: Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning.
• Target 15.1: By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services.
• Target 12.2: By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.

The article mentions or implies several indicators that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets:

• Percentage of countries that have integrated climate change measures into national policies and planning (Indicator for Target 13.2).
• Proportion of important sites for terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity that are covered by protected areas (Indicator for Target 15.1).
• Domestic material consumption per capita (Indicator for Target 12.2).
• Material footprint, per capita, of the domestic territory (Indicator for Target 12.2).

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

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Source: haaretz.com

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