We need to limit the amount of meat that we eat. This is a crucial step towards ensuring a food production that can feed more people whilst staying within planetary boundaries.


A recent study from University of Oxford estimates that more healthy and plant-based diets could reduce “greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts by 29% and 5-9% respectively”, compared to a baseline projection for 2050. In terms of reducing GHG emissions, a diet with much less meat is the main driver, thus the study
concludes that meat must become a very rare phenomenon on most people’s dinner plates towards 2050 to safeguard our future.

It argues that the projected intake of meat must be reduced by up to 90% in large parts of the world.

But what should we be eating instead? How and what should we be replacing the meat with that is currently filling up our plates?

Here are some innovative examples of what our future food will look like.

Psst… Don’t forget to visit our food space at the Global Opportunity Explorer, presenting the most outstanding and promising solutions already implemented


“Just.” by Hampton Creek, Inc, is pioneering new ways of using plant proteins to offer healthier and more affordable food options to everyone.

“Just.” utilizes plant proteins from all over the world to make food products, such as mayo, dressing and cookies, that are healthier, more sustainable and more affordable. Its philosophy is based on the idea that good food should be better and radically more affordable.

Seizing the Potential of Plant Proteins through Technology


Essento’s insect-based meat alternatives seek to change the way Europeans think about eating bugs, and reduce the environmental footprint of meat-heavy diets.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), more than two billion people already consume insects on a regular basis, yet across Europe they’re still considered pretty gross. By processing insects into a range of insect burgers and balls, Essento hope to bring these nutritious food sources into the European diet. Since the Swiss government revised their food safety laws in 2017 to permit insect-based foods to be sold, Essento has partnered with major supermarket chain Coop to bring insects into the spotlight.

Bug Burgers Brought to Swiss Supermarkets


Wholi’s bug-based products seek to change the social conventions of what makes a delicious snack to create a sustainable and responsible food culture.

With their umami-oozing Buff ‘Bug’ Bars, the Danish-based company Wholi are front-runners in the sustainable transition within the food industry. They have partnered with farmers in Cambodia and DanChurchAid to serve insect-based food products with style and change the social conventions around insects in everyday food consumption.

Tasty Bug Bars Challenging Dietary Norms