“A group of 40 investors managing $1.25 trillion in assets have launched a campaign to encourage 16 global food companies” to change to plant-based proteins in light of the “material” risks of industrial meat farming, says Reuters. The campaign, which was organized by the Farm Animal Investment Risk & Return Initiative, includes multiple Swedish state pension funds and the funding arm of insurer Aviva. Among the companies targeted were Kraft Heinz, Nestle, Unilever, Tesco, Walmart, Costco Wholesale Corporation and Whole Foods.
“The world’s over-reliance on factory farmed livestock to feed the growing global demand for protein is a recipe for a financial, social and environmental crisis,” said Jeremy Coller, founder of the FAIRR initiative and chief investment officer at Coller Capital, a private equity company. “Investors want to know if major food companies have a strategy to avoid this protein bubble and to profit from a plant-based protein market set to grow by 8.4 percent annually over the next five years.”
The campaign comes on the heels of a recent study, by researchers at Oxford University, that “said $1.5 trillion in healthcare and climate change-related costs could be saved by 2050 if people reduced their reliance on meat in their diet,” reports Reuters.
The investors sent the letter to the companies on Sept. 23, but most have not yet responded. Nestle, however, told Reuters that it doesn’t actually use much meat in its products. It intends to focus on development of animal protein alternatives, rather than replacing what relatively little meat it purchases.