Morning Folks,

On September 1st, I started a 12-week fellowship at the Asia Global Institute, a think tank based at the University of Hong Kong, which hosts an annual program for global, mid-career leaders centred around policy and leadership.

The fellowship is incredibly well-curated, and the calibre of people we are exposed to is astounding. Every day we are treated to lectures, seminars and private gatherings hosted by world leaders, global CEOs, policymakers, academics, philosophers, economists, and government officials, all of whom talk to us about our changing world. Topics have ranged from the future of work to US-China relations to Penang’s semiconductor industry to the ascendance of a new global order. The kicker? All the programming is served via an Asian-lens, which for many on the program is the first time they are seeing things through the region’s perspective.

It’s a full-on 12 weeks based in Hong Kong, with two study trips, one in Southeast Asia (we just came back from an eye-opening week in Malaysia) and 10 days in China, coming up later this month. There are 14 of us from 12 different countries, and a wide variety of backgrounds, including a former chief of police of Ukraine and Georgia, a disaster management expert from Palestine, a UN energy analyst, the founder of one of Australia’s biggest innovation ecosystems and a special advisor to the Pakistani Prime Minister—you can meet my cohort here.

It’s Week 6 and I am loving it. The program has cemented my love for policy and geopolitics, and I am excited to pursue this career direction further going forward.

One thing that is missing? Any sort of perspective on food and climate. But hey, that’s what I’m there for ;)

Last week was a big one for everyone who works in food. EAT hosted the Stockholm Food Forum, and the much-awaited EAT-Lancet report was released, a follow-up to the 2019 one that changed the global conversation about food and climate, and gave us the Planetary Health Diet (PHD), a guideline for how to eat for human and environmental health that has been quoted ad infinitum since.

Six years on, the world looks very different, but IMHO, the report (written by a commission of approx. 70 scientists from 35 countries), despite being robust and nuanced, looks much the same.

It’s also very watered down (unsurprising given all the lobbying done by the meat industry). TL;DR? The 2019 report truly changed the global conversation. I don't think this one will. (Here’s what other food systems experts have to say about the report.)

The report highlights some key truths: 1) Wealthy countries are responsible for the bulk of food-related emissions; 2) we cannot feed the world without emissions costs, ie, food production will always have a climate cost; and 3) the only way forward is for people in rich nations to eat less meat.

None of this is new information. And it feels like we are further from there ever being any political will anywhere to get 3) done than ever. Far-right leaders, most of whom associate meat with nationalism, are multiplying across the world (Japan is the latest; And France looks set to go that way soon). The world’s largest meat company cannot keep up with rising beef demand, and its CEO just said that he thinks GLP-1 drugs are fuelling a meat protein boom. Climate folks are totally disengaged from the meat reduction conversation: as Vox points out, only 0.16% of Climate Week NYC programming was centred around this topic. The EU Parliament, supposedly our most pro-climate governing bloc, has just voted to ban terms like veggie burgers from plant-based meat patties. Meanwhile, the report didn’t even make a news blip in the world’s two most powerful countries, namely the US and China.

Sigh.

Still, we must keep up the good fight.

Next week, I will be down under speaking at both Food Frontier’s annual AltProteins ‘25 conference and at SXSW Sydney. The topic? The future of foodtech, of course! I’m looking forward to getting some of those Bondi vibes!

-Sonalie

💡 Only On Green Queen

🚀 Industry Insider: Food & Climate Experts React to Landmark EAT-Lancet 2.0 Report
As reactions pour in to the EAT-Lancet Commission’s updated report on the future of food systems, calls for businesses and governments to take action appear to be a common thread.

🌱 Interview: Miyoko Schinner Wants You to Get Back in the Kitchen
Plant-based dairy pioneer Miyoko Schinner takes us behind the scenes of her new cookbook, The Vegan Creamery, which embraces fermentation to take at-home vegan cheese to the next level.

💰 5 Minutes with A Future Food VC: FoodLabs’s Adrian Friederich
In our interview series, we quiz future food investors about the solutions that excite them the most, their favourite climate-forward restaurant, and what they look for in successful founders. Adrian Friederich, Principal at FoodLabs, shares why ‘real excitement lies where deep science meets AI’.

🔍 Key Insights: The US Meat & Dairy Industry is Spying on Thousands of Animal Rights Activists
Animal Agriculture Alliance, which is funded by the US livestock industry and has a direct line to the FBI, has a database tracking the lives of 2,400 activists. Here’s what that means.

✅ Must-Read Headlines

🧀 US artisan vegan cheesemaker Climax Foods has raised $6.5 million Series A funding, rebranded to Bettani Farms, and hired a new CEO in a major overhaul for the business.
💡The developments mark a new era for the plant-based cheesemaker, which is switching focus from blue cheese to more market-friendly alternatives like mozzarella and feta.

🇸🇬 Singaporean startup ImpacFat secured seed funding to fuel its Asian commercialisation plans for cultivated omega-3 fish fat.
💡ImpacFat is in the middle of expanding to a 10- to 50-litre scale as it eyes commercialisation in the personal care industry.

🍫 Italy’s Foreverland has opened its first production facility in Puglia, which can produce 500 tonnes of its cocoa-free chocolate every year.
💡It has also partnered with Italian protein innovator Small Giants to roll out a protein bar pairing its Choruba ingredient with the latter’s nutritional yeast protein.

📉 One of the world’s largest and foremost meat-free companies, Quorn parent Marlow Foods, has recorded a 9% decline in sales amid weakening demand in the UK and US.
💡However, it nearly halved its losses in 2024, with its foodservice sales rising by 2.5% to £28.6 million, building on the progress of its newly launched QuornPro division.

🏷️ Plant-Based Labelling Conflict

🇪🇺 The EU Parliament has voted in favour of banning terms like ‘beef’, ‘bacon’ and ‘egg white’  from plant-based product labels.
💡As Green MEP Anna Strolenberg put it, this disappointing turn of events is a “waste of everybody’s time”, since industry data shows that consumers are in no way confused by plant-based labels.

🚫 Over 200 companies and organisations organised a campaign calling on MEPs to reject the proposed ban on the use of meat-like terms on vegan product labels.
💡Critics of the ban argue that it puts the EU at odds with one of its fastest-growing industries, since Europe is the largest market for plant-based meat globally.

✅ The International Organization for Standardization published a new standard for plant-based food labelling, which experts say will promote “clarity, consistency, and consumer trust”.
💡Plant-based labelling has long been the source of conflict; could this standard be the first step to united government legislation?

💰 Key Research & Consumer Insights

🆕 The EAT-Lancet Commission released the 2.0 update to its report on the future of the food system and the Planetary Health Diet. Here are the big takeaways.

😋 A new study by ETH Zürich analysed several plant-based, algae-derived and cultivated protein sources for meat alternatives to find consumers’ favourite ingredients.

📊 An analysis by Sentient Media of hundreds of online articles from US media shows that less than 4% mention and contextualise the role of meat in climate change. Here’s why.

🚀 Everything Else In Future Food

💊 Women’s wellness startup Desert Harvest debuted a new supplement featuring Helaina’s precision-fermented human lactoferrin to manage menopause.

🌿 Tokyo-based dairy giant Lacto Japan has teamed up with New Zealand startup Leaft Foods to bring its Rubisco protein to Japan.

​​🧃 German startup Koa launched three vitamin shots made from cacao fruit juice, valorising a key chocolate industry sidestream and providing additional income for farmers.

🥪 Fast-food giant Subway has collaborated with Swiss plant-based meat leader Planted to develop a new teriyaki sandwich in all its stores nationwide, and it all started with a comment on Instagram.

🏨 Accor, Hilton, Four Seasons, Marriott International, IHG and others have teamed up with Vegan Hospitality to cut food-related emissions via plant-based dining. Here’s how they’re doing it.

🇩🇰 As part of their climate strategies, Lidl and Wolt Market have pledged to increase the share of plant-based proteins they sell in Denmark. Here’s what that looks like.

🌱🍔  Future Food Quick Bites 

In our weekly column, Future Food Quick Bites, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers American Airlines’ Just Egg scramble, Chanza’s chickpea protein chunks, and Pizza Hut’s The Vegetarian Butcher collab.

📆 Scene & Heard

Catch Sonalie Figueiras at SXSW Sydney 2025!

🇦🇺 SXSW Sydney brings together professionals from business, tech, government, health, marketing, creative industries and more for seven days of ideas, innovation and inspiration. Join the event, happening October 13th-19th, for an unparalleled week of connection and discovery in APAC, including a panel on ‘Rewriting the Rules’ with Green Queen’s founding editor Sonalie Figueiras. Secure your spot here.

🤩 Food Frontier’s AltProteins 25, taking place 14th October in Sydney, will tackle the urgent challenges and transformative opportunities reshaping the global food system – enabled by a provocative new format with deep-dive discussions, breakout workshops, immersive tastings and real-time engagement with leading experts – including Green Queen’s Founding Editor Sonalie Figueiras. Sign up here.

🇳🇱 With over 1,000 attendees and 60+ exhibiting companies, the Future of Protein Production Amsterdam is Europe’s premier event for driving innovation and scaling alternative proteins. It’s taking place 29th and 30th October; secure your spot here.

🇺🇸 Transform Food & Agriculture USA convenes 200 decision-makers from across the agri-food value chain to tackle the urgent challenges facing global food systems, from climate risk and labor shortages to market volatility and rising input costs. It’s happening 14th-15th October; Find out more here.

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