Investments & Finance

The Economic Case for Alternative Proteins

There is an abundance of reasons to embrace the protein transition from animal-based to alternative proteins.

Whether to meet environmental targets, improve public health, reduce antibiotic resistance, or improve the lives of animals, it’s a multi-problem solution to some of the world’s most pressing problems.

Just as the automobile industry pivots from gas-powered to electric vehicles and the energy sector from fossil fuels to renewables, the food system is poised for its own transformative shift.

Crucially, these transitions are motivated not only by an environmental imperative but by a clear economic opportunity. New technologies and innovations lead to job creation, spur economic growth, and open up new markets.

The transition towards alternative proteins is therefore not just a matter of sustainability or ethics. It represents a vast economic frontier.

Business person in suit at office desk
Image supplied by ProVeg International

In its latest New Food Hub article, ProVeg International explores the economic potential of alternative proteins, and explains why investing in alternative proteins is good for our wallets and our world.

Public investment in alternative proteins

A key part of the article covers public investment in alternative proteins. So far, the majority of investment in alternative proteins has come from private sources, such as venture capitalists and impact investors.

Public investments, however, are also critical to the growth of the alternative proteins industry. As Linus Pardoe of GFI Europe notes in an interview with ProVeg International: Whilst a dynamic industry is a crucial part of the alternative proteins ecosystem, public investment fills a very different role compared to private sector investment. Unlike companies, which are bound by short-term profit-making margins and often wish to protect their innovations, public funds can be invested into long-term, forward-looking R&D questions that catalyse progress and maximise public benefit.”

In recent years, alternative proteins have begun to receive considerable public investment from governments worldwide. The GFI estimates the total level of public investment in alternative proteins to be over USD 1 billion, with USD 635 million being invested in 2022.[1] However, even with these significant and welcome increases, more is needed.

A variety of pulses
Image courtesy ProVeg International

Even with the funding commitments we have seen from governments in recent years, the emerging alternative protein ecosystem needs significantly more public investment in both R&D and support for commercialisation to reach its full potential in creating jobs, diversifying domestic food supplies, and mitigating the impacts of climate change,” comments Linus Pardoe, UK Policy Manager at GFI Europe, in an interview with ProVeg International.

For example, a Global Innovation Needs Assessment commissioned by the UK government found that the alternative protein sector could support 9.8 million jobs and USD 1.1 trillion in economic value by 2050, but only if governments worldwide commit USD 4.4 billion to R&D and USD 5.7 billion to commercialisation on an annual basis.[2]

Since the start of this decade alone, governments have allocated over USD 1.34 trillion towards clean energy initiatives.[3]

As with other sustainable technologies, governments must invest now to maximise their economic and environmental potential.


Read the full article on the New Food Hub. If you need more support on your alternative protein strategy, you can get in touch with ProVeg’s experts at [email protected].

[1] The State of Global Policy on Alternative Proteins, 2022. GFI. Available at: https://gfi.org/resource/alternative-proteins-state-of-global-policy/. Accessed 2023-12-20.​​

[2] Global Innovation Needs Assessments: Protein diversity, 2021. Climateworks. Available at: https://www.climateworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/GINAs-Protein-Diversity.pdf. Accessed 2023-12-20.

[3] Governments are continuing to push investment into clean energy amid the global energy crisis, 2023. IEA. Available at: https://www.iea.org/news/governments-are-continuing-to-push-investment-into-clean-energy-amid-the-global-energy-crisis#. Accessed 2023-12-20.

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