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The Sustainability Initiative at MIT Sloan empowers leaders to take action, professionally and personally, so that humans and nature can thrive for generations to come. We are the founders of SHIFT.tools and oversee the platform.
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Realizing the environmental potential of plant-based meat and dairy through sustainability strategy and business decisions

CURRENT STATE 
There is strong growth in the plant-based foods and plant-based meat/dairy sector. These products are almost uniformly environmentally advantageous. However, in order to realize the ecological and climate based goals that companies such as the Company seeks to facilitate, certain conditions must exist. E.g., ground beef and scrambled egg replacement alone will not reduce the number of livestock in the world, significantly. Success in achieving environmental gains will require: 

  1. consumer (omnivore) willingness to pay for replacements 

  2. product strategies that replace the main revenue drivers of livestock categories rather than 

  3. 'popcorning' products with low environmental impact 

  4. displacement of livestock from habitat occupation and subsequent 'rewilding' or at least 

  5. abatement of production on land area 

  6. penetration into rapidly growing markets in Asia to skip meat consumption adoption. 

GOAL STATE 
Sector-wide understanding of the market choices that can accelerate impact for maximum ecologic benefit over longterm business horizon (to 2030), specifically related to cattle replacement. 

DELIVERABLES 
Presentation, report in form of white paper or academic paper, all supplementary information, datasets, audiofiles. 

Resources ( 4)

General result

Midwest Row Crop Collaborative

Midwest Row Crop Collaborative
Suite of Tools | Free

The Collaborative strives to meet the challenge of producing enough food, fiber, and fuel for a rapidly growing population expected to exceed 9 billion people by 2050,... Read More

General result

Engage the Chain: An Investor Guide on Agricultural Supply Chain Risk

Ceres
Other | Free | Jun 23, 2017

Engage the Chain overviews the environmental and social risks and impacts of 8 commonly sourced agricultural commodities: beef, corn, dairy, fiber-based packaging, palm... Read More

General result

Climate Smart Agriculture Sourcebook

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Suite of Tools | Free

The Climate-Smart Agriculture Sourcebook draws together a wide range of knowledge and expertise on the concept of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) to better guide policy... Read More

General result

Cool Farm Tool | An online greenhouse gas, water, and biodiversity calculator

Cool Farm Alliance
Calculator / Equations / Formula | Free

The Cool Farm Tool enables farmers to measure the on-farm environmental efficiencies of their production systems. It reports environmental impacts of greenhouse gas... Read More

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