Part of the Bezos Earth Fund’s $1 billion commitment to transforming our food systems, the money will go towards building the Bezos Centers for Sustainable Proteins to improve the taste and affordability of alternative protein products
At the recent multi-day event, Aspen Ideas: Climate, Lauren Sánchez, fiancée of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the vice chair of the billionaire’s philanthropic fund, Bezos Earth Fund, announced a $60 million investment to improve the availability and quality of alternative proteins such as plant-based foods.
The alternative protein market has been struggling in recent times, with retail sales in the US declining 12.2 percent year-over-year to $76.7 million in September 2023, according to Circana data crunched by 210 Analytics. With the capital injection from the fund, several Bezos Centers for Sustainable Protein will be set up to address the technological challenges of producing better quality, nutritious, tasty and more affordable alternative proteins, including plant-based and cultivated meats.
The goal is to do this within the next five years, says Andy Jarvis, director of the fund’s Future of Food arm.
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“We need to feed 10 billion people with healthy, sustainable food throughout this century while protecting our planet. We can do it, and it will require a ton of innovation,” said Sánchez in a press statement. “Our world is poised for transformation, for a future not constrained by compromise. Solutions to our greatest challenges often come from the quiet persistence of those willing to question, reimagine and innovate.”
The Bezos Earth Fund was established in 2020 and has pledged to distribute $10 billion to tackle climate change and protect nature.
It is well-documented that food production is the second-leading contributor to climate change, driving deforestation and loss of biodiversity. Raising livestock for human consumption contributes around 15 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions. Of the $10 billion it has pledged, the Bezos Earth Fund has allocated an initial $1 billion to specifically transforming global food systems into more sustainable operations.