Trump's agriculture department announces 30% biofuel goal for 2050

P.J. Huffstutter, Mark Weinraub

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday announced a goal for biofuels to make up 30% of U.S. transportation fuels by 2050, a move that could bolster an industry that has been otherwise battered by the Trump administration.

Refineries are currently required to blend 20.09 billion gallons of biofuel in 2020, about 10% of projected crude oil production, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

President Donald Trump has been criticized by the corn-based ethanol industry after his Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted exemptions to the blend requirement for dozens of oil companies over the last two years.

The biofuel goal, which also included getting the blend rate to 15% in 10 years, is part of a new department-wide sustainability initiative aiming to boost farm production by 40% and cut the farm sector’s environmental impact by 50% during the same period. The environmental goal also could deflect criticism from farmers and ethanol producers in an election year.

“I think, really, that’s maybe one of the easiest to achieve, with going from E10 to E15 … that’s a 50% increase,” USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue said at a news conference.

Ethanol producers were waiting to see the reaction of the EPA, which has thwarted the move toward a 15% blend rate in the past even as the USDA has called for increased production of the corn-based fuel, said Todd Becker, chief executive officer of Green Plains Inc , which operates 13 ethanol plants.

“I don’t think this is a supportive EPA of ethanol,” Becker said. “I think they are being dragged into it kicking and screaming.”

The EPA said in a statement that it looks “forward to continuing working with USDA to support sustainable farming.” It noted that it approved E15 for year-round sales in 2019.

Trump’s first term ends in 2021, and he is campaigning for re-election in November.

The plan stands in stark contrast to the Trump administration’s ongoing approach toward environmental issues. Trump has described climate change as a “hoax.” Over the past two years, the EPA has granted more than 30 biofuel waivers to refineries, including facilities owned by Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp .

The farm community’s anger over the administration’s ethanol policy has continued and given a potential opportunity to Democratic rivals, who hope rural voters in corn-producing states such as Iowa may be more open to voting for a Democrat – or simply not turn out on election day.

2020

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2019

Sec. Perdue is open to carbon markets for farmers, Pingree says
Food & Environment Reporting Network-May 14, 2019
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue expressed support for carbon ... knew a lot about the idea of carbon markets, had a price in his head.” ... which Pingree supports, but said didn't include “enough elaboration on agriculture.

SECRETARY PERDUE IS OPEN TO CARBON MARKETS FOR FARMERS, PINGREE SAYS
By Leah Douglas 5/15/2019 USDA

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue expressed support for carbon markets for farmers during a meeting, Representative Chellie Pingree said on Monday. An upcoming agriculture appropriations bill will likely include language that urges USDA to research the possibility of such markets, added the Maine Democrat, speaking at a Food & Environment Reporting Network event.

“He sat in my office for an hour,” Pingree said of her meeting with Perdue, though she didn’t specify when the meeting occurred. “He was surprisingly receptive, knew a lot about the idea of carbon markets, had a price in his head.”

Agriculture is responsible for about 10% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., but farms also have the ability to sequester carbon from the atmosphere through measures such as planting of cover crops. But planting those crops isn’t always profitable enough to make it worthwhile, especially if the crop can’t be sold. One way that environmental, food, and farming groups have proposed solving this dilemma is through carbon markets, or paying farmers for the amount of carbon they sequester.

“He brought it up, that the USDA should be the place that the standard’s set,” she continued. “Honestly, I was pretty surprised.”

The Trump administration has expressed skepticism about climate change, and the president announced a withdrawal from the Paris climate accord that was designed to keep global warming below 2˚ Celsius. But Pingree said Perdue was open to discussing new carbon market opportunities for farmers as a way to get money into their pockets.

Pingree said that she is working on putting language into an upcoming agriculture appropriations bill that would urge USDA to “research the opportunity for farmers to participate in carbon markets, and what would be appropriate metrics.” A sticky issue is figuring out how to measure soil carbon so farmers can be compensated.

“We talked to [Perdue] about that and he didn’t oppose it,” she said.

In March, a coalition of environmental organizations and food companies announced their efforts to build a market that would pay farmers for carbon sequestration and cleaner water. General Mills, ADM, Cargill, McDonald’s, and The Nature Conservancy are among 10 groups involved in the effort. The program would give farmers credits for their efforts to sequester carbon or protect water quality, and then companies could buy those credits to reach their own sustainability goals. They plan to build the market by 2022.

In her remarks, Pingree noted that few members of Congress have made agriculture, and particularly its relationship to climate change, a central issue. “We’ve been trying to push [carbon markets] with Congress,” she said. “Farmers have an opportunity here. Let’s get them in early and change the dialogue.”

Pingree also noted that literacy among members of Congress about climate change is lower than other pressing policy issues. “We debated repealing the healthcare bill 60 times, or 55 times. Members of Congress are extremely well versed in preexisting conditions,” she noted. “But we haven’t talked about climate change for a really long time. Everybody told us it’s not an election-year issue. Also, we didn’t have hearings or anything else going on. We don’t even know what the current science is for the most part.”

In April, Pingree released a five-point plan to engage farmers around responding to climate change. The five initiatives included building healthy soil, supporting pasture-based livestock, reducing food waste, and investing in rural energy. The plan was released in response to the Green New Deal, which Pingree supports, but said didn’t include “enough elaboration on agriculture.”

Pingree has represented Maine’s first congressional district since 2010. She sits on the House Agriculture Committee and the House Appropriations Committee, where she serves on the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Subcommittee on Interior and the Environment.

New Zealand's Greens pit teenaged activist against Ardern for election

Praveen Menon


WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A week shy of his 18th birthday, climate activist Luke Wijohn is planning to take down New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in a general election later this year, having been selected by the Green Party to contest her constituency.


FILE PHOTO: New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern listens to questions during a media standup in the aftermath of the eruption of White Island volcano, also known by its Maori name Whakaari, at Whakatane, New Zealand December 13, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

Should he take Auckland’s Mount Albert seat off Ardern in the Sept. 19 poll, which appears unlikely, Wijohn would become the youngest lawmaker to be elected in New Zealand.

“What I want is action on climate change and social inequality...that would be the two main points for my campaign,” Wijohn told Reuters by telephone from Auckland following his selection earlier this week.

Climate change is a key issue in the election this year. New Zealanders have been shocked in recent months as ash from the bushfires in neighboring Australia turned its skies red and its glaciers brown.

Proud of being one of the most pristine, and beautiful countries in the world, New Zealand introduced climate change curriculum in its schools last month.

Parliament passed a zero carbon bill last year, and there are other measure in the pipeline to limit the impact of climate change.

The aspiring politician is far from an unknown quantity, having gained prominence for organizing the ‘School Strike 4 Climate’ marches in the country last year.

Wijohn’s activism also led to a one-year ban from parliament’s premises, as the speaker barred him and more than a dozen others for causing disturbances in the public gallery during a protest in support of ethnic Maori land rights.

“Currently in parliament we’ve got an average age of mid-fifties,” said Wijohn, who hopes to attract youth voters to the Green cause.

Having become the youngest elected head of state when she won office in 2017, Ardern hardly lacks demographic appeal.

Now 39, she is seen as a liberal, progressive and environment-friendly leader whose coalition, which includes the Green Party, has acted on issues of climate change, social justice, equality. The Greens, however, want more to be done.

Responding to questions sent by Reuters, Ardern avoided mention of personalities but encouraged young people to join politics to make their voices heard.

“We have some very strong young leaders in New Zealand – and globally – and that can only be a positive thing,” she said.

The opposition National Party clearly thinks the same, as it has also put an 18-year-old on the ballot.

Exclusive: Sears snags new financial lifeline as losses continue - sources

Jessica DiNapoli, Mike Spector



FILE PHOTO: The Sears store is pictured during Black Friday sales in Cutler Bay, Florida, U.S. November 29, 2019. REUTERS/Maria Alejandra Cardona

(Reuters) - U.S. department store operator Sears has reached a deal for a fresh financial lifeline totaling roughly $100 million from hedge fund Brigade Capital Management LP, as it tries to stabilize after bankruptcy, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

Sears’ billionaire owner Eddie Lampert rescued the retailer from liquidation in a $5.2 billion takeover during bankruptcy proceedings a year ago. The company’s unabated need for new funding underscores Lampert’s challenges in turning it around.

Sears reached an agreement with Brigade for the $100 million financing in recent weeks, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition they not be identified because the negotiations were confidential. Lampert has also bankrolled Sears in recent months, the sources added, without disclosing the total amount of funding he provided.

A spokesman for Sears, now called Transform Holdco LLC, declined to comment. Brigade did not respond to a request for comment.

Brigade has extended loans to other troubled retailers, including high-fashion chain Barneys New York Inc and childrens’ clothing shop Gymboree.

Last year, Sears sold its DieHard car battery business to Advance Auto Parts Inc (AAP.N) for $200 million and clinched a separate $250 million loan from Lampert’s hedge fund, ESL Investments Inc, and other investors. The company has also been paying down some of its borrowings from banks, one of the sources said.

Sears said in November it would close nearly 100 stores, leaving it with only about 182, down sharply from the 425 Lampert acquired when he rescued the chain from bankruptcy. The department store operator is a shadow of the company created by Lampert more than 15 years ago through its merger with Kmart, when it boasted $55 billion in annual sales.

Sears lost money nearly every year over the past decade, amid competition from e-commerce firms such as Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), while Lampert, formerly the company’s chairman and chief executive, provided financing lines to keep it afloat.

The company’s struggles have drained its cash coffers, risking a potential breach of its debt agreements with banks, people familiar with the matter have said. That has left Sears with the choice of raising additional capital or closing even more stores.

Extraditing Assange would hit press freedom, rights advocate tells UK
LONDON (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should not be extradited to the United States because it would have a chilling effect on press freedom, a European human rights chief said on Thursday.



FILE PHOTO: WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange leaves Westminster Magistrates Court in London, Britain January 13, 2020. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

Assange, 48, is in prison in London, where an extradition hearing begins next week. The U.S. authorities want to try him on 18 counts including conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law.

Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner, said Assange’s case raised questions about the protection of people who publish classified information in the public interest, exposing human rights violations.

“The broad and vague nature of the allegations against Julian Assange, and of the offences listed in the indictment, are troubling as many of them concern activities at the core of investigative journalism in Europe and beyond,” she said.


“Consequently, allowing Julian Assange’s extradition on this basis would have a chilling effect on media freedom, and could ultimately hamper the press in performing its task as purveyor of information and public watchdog in democratic societies.”

Mijatovic said she was also concerned about detention conditions in the United States and about the sentence likely to be imposed on Assange. He could spend decades in prison if convicted.

The Council of Europe, which describes itself as the continent’s leading human rights organization, has 47 member states including Britain, all of which are signatories to the European Convention on Human Rights.

Assange’s WikiLeaks website made global headlines in early 2010 when it published a classified U.S. military video showing a 2007 helicopter attack in Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff.


Since then, the website has published a vast amount of secret U.S. diplomatic cables and other confidential documents.

Assange presents himself as a champion of free speech holding a superpower to account, but critics accuse him of irresponsibly putting lives at risk with his unedited information dumps.

After WikiLeaks published leaked emails during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign that damaged Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, he was accused of complicity in Russian efforts to meddle in U.S. politics and undermine the West.


Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; editing by Stephen Addison
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

CATHOLIC FASCISM
Croatia attorney general steps down for being Freemason

ZAGREB (Reuters) - Croatian Attorney General Drazen Jelenic stepped down on Wednesday following pressure from top officials after he publicly acknowledged being a Freemason.

“That membership of a legal association did not influence my job in any way, but the recent insinuations in public related to my membership have made my further work in the current role impossible,” Jelenic said in a statement.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic had said the government would sack Jelenic unless he resigned.

“There is nothing illegal here. However, this created an unusual circumstance which makes his position (as attorney general) difficult,” Plenkovic said.

Jelenic became attorney general in 2018. Some officials of the ruling conservative HDZ party said he should have made clear he was a Freemason before taking office.

Jelenic said in an interview this week that he had become a Freemason after an invitation by a friend and that he understood the invitation was recognition of his professional qualities.

The website of one of Croatia’s Freemason lodges says it is an association which gathers people of honor who discuss various moral and philosophical issues and work for the benefit of their community.

IT IS CALLED A CREED AND IS A HUMAN RIGHT

Reporting by Igor Ilic; editing by Nick Macfie

SPECIAL REPORTS

'Hit with a truck' - How Iran's missiles inflicted brain injury on U.S. troops

Phil Stewart, Idrees AliFEBRUARY 20, 2020 

(Reuters) - In the wee hours of Jan. 8, Tehran retaliated over the U.S. killing of Iran’s most powerful general by bombarding the al-Asad air base in Iraq.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. soldiers inspect the site where an Iranian missile hit at Ain al-Asad air base in Anbar province, Iraq January 13, 2020. REUTERS/John Davison

Among the 2,000 troops stationed there was U.S. Army Specialist Kimo Keltz, who recalls hearing a missile whistling through the sky as he lay on the deck of a guard tower. The explosion lifted his body - in full armor - an inch or two off the floor.

Keltz says he thought he had escaped with little more than a mild headache. Initial assessments around the base found no serious injuries or deaths from the attack. U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted, “All is well!”

The next day was different.

“My head kinda felt like I got hit with a truck,” Keltz told Reuters in an interview from al-Asad air base in Iraq’s western Anbar desert. “My stomach was grinding.”

Keltz, who said he had concussion symptoms for days, is among 109 soldiers diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries in the wake of last month’s attack, a figure that has steadily risen as more troops report symptoms and get medical screening.

Reuters interviewed more than a dozen officials and soldiers and spoke with brain-injury specialists to assemble the most comprehensive account so far of the nature of the soldiers’ injuries and how they sustained them.

The slowly rising casualty count underscores the difficulty in detecting and treating what has become one of the most common injuries in the U.S. military during two decades of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, where U.S. troops face roadside bombs, rockets and mortars.

More than a week after the attack, on Jan. 16, Defense Secretary Mark Esper was made aware that soldiers had suffered brain injuries from the missiles, the Pentagon said. That day, the Pentagon reported that an unspecified number of troops were treated for concussive symptoms and 11 were flown to Kuwait and Germany for higher-level care.

On Jan. 22, Trump said that he “heard that they had headaches and a couple of other things,” prompting criticism from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers and a U.S. veterans group that the president was underplaying the casualties from the attack.

“I think it was unfortunate to use those words,” said Republican Representative Richard Hudson, who represents Fayetteville, North Carolina, home to Fort Bragg that includes the Army’s Special Operations Command.

The White House declined to comment for this story.

A DIFFERENT CLASS OF WOUNDS

The U.S. military has long treated brain injuries as a different class of wounds that do not require rapid reporting up the chain of command, unlike incidents threatening life, limb or eyesight.


Since 2000, nearly 414,000 service members have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, according to Pentagon data. The number is likely higher because the Pentagon only counts as one injury cases where a soldier suffers brain trauma in multiple incidents.

U.S. troops operating drone flights appeared to have suffered the most brain injuries during the attack on al-Asad, said Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Garland, who was on the base at the time. Many worked near the air strip, he said. Like Specialist Keltz, who was manning a guard tower, the drone pilots had been assigned to watch for a possible ground attack.

“Those drone pilots, they’re the ones that took the brunt of the TBI cases,” said Garland, who as commander of Task Force Jazeera oversees more than 400 soldiers.

The number of troops diagnosed with brain injury from last month’s attack was expected to stabilize near the current count, one U.S. official said. Less than 10 were now being monitored with possible TBI symptoms, the official said.

The total U.S. military count, however, excludes civilian contractors on the base at the time, many of whom have since departed.

Some U.S. troops also suffered from anxiety-related symptoms after the attack, including sleeplessness and, in at least one case, a sustained high heart rate, according to interviews with soldiers and officials. However, they could not provide a specific number.

The Pentagon categorizes brain injuries as mild, moderate, severe or penetrating. The vast majority of injuries are classified as mild, as were all of the injuries reported from al-Asad.

STANDING GUARD

Garland, the commander, said he was taken aback when he learned of U.S. intelligence indicating that Iranian missiles would strike within hours. He immediately found a base map and started sizing up the best options to shelter his troops.

He recalled old bunkers on the base built during the era of Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi dictator toppled by U.S.-led forces in 2003. But the bunkers wouldn’t hold everyone. Some would need to disperse, taking cover in armored vehicles driven away from targets.

Others in Garland’s unit — including Specialist Keltz —would need to stand guard to watch for additional attacks beyond the expected missiles.

Keltz said he and a fellow soldier were already manning a tower when First Sergeant Larry Jackson came to them, explaining the intelligence and giving them their orders.

“What I need you boys to do is to lay down on the ground when the impacts happen - and then I need you to jump right back up and man those guns,” Jackson said in an interview, recounting his instructions to Keltz and other soldiers at the base.

As the Iranian missiles streaked through the night sky toward the base, their engines glowed orange - like the ends of lit cigarettes, Garland said. The glow was all that Garland could see in the darkness before scrambling back into a bunker.

Then came the blasts. At least eleven missiles struck the base, destroying housing units made from shipping containers and other facilities.

“Every explosion I heard, I was thinking, OK, that’s a number of people that have just lost their lives,” he said.

But initial checks after the attack showed nobody was killed or obviously injured, despite massive devastation to the base. Word got back to Washington. Just before 6 a.m. in Baghdad, Trump tweeted an update: “Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good!”

FALLING THROUGH THE CRACKS

On the ground at al-Asad, U.S. Army Major Robert Hales, a doctor who is deployed to al-Asad, defended the initial reports of no injuries.

“Everyone here did not have any outward physical injuries,” he said in an interview. “There were no lacerations. There’s no shrapnel wounds.”

Such “silent” injuries take time to manifest, he said.

Injury figures kept climbing in the weeks after the attack. What began as at least 11 cases grew to 34 about a week later.

On Jan. 22, Trump made his controversial comment, referring to the injuries as “headaches.” The Veterans of Foreign Wars demanded an apology for Trump’s “misguided remarks”.

A week later, on Jan. 28, the toll of brain injuries climbed to 50. In early February, Reuters was the first to report that the count had surpassed 100.

The brain injuries sustained in the Iranian missile attack are fundamentally different than those that have typically resulted from past attacks, brain-trauma specialists said.

That’s because the al-Asad bombing was more intense than typical quick-hit, single-explosion attacks: The explosions came in waves and lasted more than an hour.

When a roadside bomb goes off in Afghanistan, head wounds are often visible. In insurgent bomb blasts, shrapnel or other flying debris can cause brain injuries upon impact. But the damage from large pressure waves from a major blast - like the ones at al-Asad that Specialist Keltz felt - often take more time to diagnose.

Marilyn Kraus, director of the Traumatic Brain Injury program and concussion clinic at George Washington University, said troops may minimize or underreport their symptoms initially. Others may not show symptoms until much later in part because their injuries are initially masked by the adrenaline rush that comes with combat.

“Some of these things can fall into the cracks initially,” said Kraus, who previously served as medical director of the Traumatic Brain Injury Consult Section at the Walter Reed military hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.


In the short term, mild traumatic brain injury can cause headaches, nausea, dizziness and confusion, while longer-term effects can include chronic headaches, mood changes and dizziness, Kraus said. Repeated head injuries can lead to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a brain degeneration disorder that some researchers have linked to suicidal thoughts, substance misuse and depression, she said.

Hales, the Army doctor, cited research within the past six months showing in animal models that signs of damage to the brain can increase in the weeks after a blast. At al-Asad, soldiers started showing symptoms such as headaches or a “foggy feeling” days after the attack, Hales said. The symptoms often persisted.

“That’s the reason why you saw a huge delay” in identifying the injuries, he said. “That prompted us to re-screen pretty much the whole population of al-Asad.”

Stewart and Ali reported from Washington. Editing by Brian Thevenot and Jason Szep

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

MOUNT MERAPI, INDONESIA

Research team maps out transition from petroleum to wood in chemical production

FORWARD TO THE PAST
A team of bioengineers and economics from KU Leuven in Belgium has mapped out how wood could replace petroleum in the chemical industry.

According to the researchers, who considered both technological requirements and financial viability, the transition from petroleum to biofuel (in the form of wood) would lead to a reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Currently, plastics, cleaning agents and building materials are usually made from chemical components derived from petroleum instead of renewable materials. The researchers have now fully mapped out the process by which wood can be transformed into chemicals that can be used in a range of products.

Moreover, although petroleum is currently cheaper to use as a raw material, the team have calculated that it is financially viable to build and operate a biorefinery that converts wood into chemical building blocks.

To extract chemicals from wood, it is first divided into a solid paper pulp and a liquid lignin oil. The pulp can be used to produce second generation biofuels, while the lignin oil can be further processed to manufacture chemical building blocks.

"In the paper industry, lignin is seen as a residual product and usually burned,” explained Professor Bert Sels of the Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems. “That's a pity, since just like petroleum, it can have many high quality uses if it can be properly separated from wood and the right chemical building blocks are extracted."

The new study, which has been published in the journal Science, is an important milestone in the team's research. "What's so special about this study is that we calculated the economic viability of a switch from petroleum to wood," Sels continued.

To create a realistic scenario, the researchers teamed up with a Belgian-Japanese ink company, as certain compounds from lignin can be used to produce ink. The calculations indicate that a chemical plant that uses wood as a raw material can be profitable after a few years.

Due to the shrinking paper industry, there is currently a surplus of wood in Europe. The team is currently collaborating with waste processors and landscape managers to use prunings and other waste wood for their research.

The environmental impact of using wood is also reduced compared to petroleum, as chemical compounds made from wood emit fewer CO2 emissions. Products made from wood derivatives are also able to store CO2, in the same way trees can.

The team will now scale up the production process, with the first test phase already underway. The ultimate goal is to create a wood biorefinery in Belgium. Meanwhile, the researchers are in conversation with various business partners who can process the cellulose pulp and lignin oil in a variety of products.

Bert Lagrain, sustainable chemistry innovation manager, added: "The chemical sector emits a lot of CO2 globally. A serious change is needed to achieve a carbon neutral chemistry. By scaling up our research project, we hope to get the industry on board."

INEOS, UPM Biofuels to produce renewable plastic from wood-based residue

INEOS and UPM Biofuels have announced a long-term agreement to supply a renewable raw material for bio-attributed polymers to be produced at INEOS’ facility in Köln, Germany.

As per the agreement, INEOS will use UPM BioVerno, a sustainable raw material from renewable residue of wood pulp processing, to produce bio-attributed polyolefins. These materials will be used in a range of products, including plastic food packaging and pipes.

According to the companies, applications will also include BIOVYN, the world’s first commercially available bio-attributed PVC, which is produced by INEOS business INOVYN.

Each step in the production process has been certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB). The process begins with UPM Biofuels converting the wood-based residue (crude tall oil) into hydrocarbons, through to production of the final polymer.

The result of UPM Biofuels’ production is a bio-based cracker feedstock that does not compete with food production. By replacing fossil based raw materials with UPM BioVerno in its cracker, INEOS products will contribute to a significant reduction in carbon emissions.

“The collaboration with INEOS is a great step forward in the bio-economy,” commented Maiju Helin, head of sustainability and market development at UPM Biofuels. “UPM BioVerno products now help to reduce climate and environmental impacts in an even broader range of applications. INEOS’ and UPM Biofuels’ commitment to RSB certification creates a strong common ground to build on.”

Rob Ingram, CEO of INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe North, added: “The agreement supports INEOS plans to make plastic from renewable raw materials, which contribute to a significant reduction in carbon emissions.

"We are pleased to be working with UPM Biofuels. They place fundamental importance on commitment to innovation and resource efficiency as well as social and environmental responsibility. This partnership in combination with RSB certification gives customers the confidence that they are choosing a high quality, sustainable product."

Food Systems

Can you swallow the idea of lab-grown meat?

The notion of ‘growing’ a steak in a test tube sounds like science fiction. But our food habits change

Journalist: Gillian Tett

This month I met Joshua March, a young British entrepreneur who dreams of disrupting our idea of “meat”. Specifically, he is working with biochemist Jess Krieger to cultivate animal flesh in laboratories for mass consumption.

Yes, you read that right. Since time immemorial, humans have thought of “meat” as something natural, an animal that ran around before it was killed and cooked. But Krieger has spent the past six years working at Kent State University in Ohio, growing individual chunks of meat in a lab.

They have now created a start-up, Artemys Foods, to mass-produce their wares. “We’re on a mission to empower humanity to eat sustainably,” March told me over a breakfast of avocado toast and old-fashioned natural bacon in New York.

“We believe the only way to change how the majority of people are eating meat is to be able to give them real meat — without the negative consequences caused by growing actual animals, whether impact to the environment or animal welfare.”

Krieger adds: “Plant-based meat gets some of the way [to remove meat from the diet] . . . but it will never be able to fully replicate the sensory experience of eating a really great piece of meat. [This technology] creates this, with the same or better nutrition. Eventually, eating meat from actual animals will be seen as an archaic practice only carried out by a minority.”

Artemys is not the first to experiment with cultivated meat. In 2013, the world’s first lab-grown burger, created from cow cells by a scientist at Maastricht University, was eaten at a news conference in London. Mosa Meat, the company created in the wake of that project, recently received investment from a US venture capital fund to help bring the product to market.

The question for all entrepreneurs in this area is whether consumers can swallow the idea. When I originally heard about lab-grown meat, my first thought was “yuck”. The idea of “growing” a steak or chicken leg in a test tube sounds like a scene from science fiction, not haute cuisine. But, on reflection, I realised that my reaction was also somewhat odd or, at least, inconsistent.

Many of us already consume ultra-processed or modified foods that could be considered “unnatural”, such as packet soups, reconstituted meat products or sweets like bubblegum. If you look at how our attitudes towards food have already changed, it is clear that they are grounded in culture more than nature.

Half a century ago, it was assumed that it made sense to use as much science as possible in food. In the 1950s, some considered white bread and other processed foods to be superior to the unrefined variants.

Later, frozen ready meals were seen as sophisticated. Indeed, when scientists created genetically modified crops, this was hailed by many as a brilliant “green revolution”, since it promised to raise agricultural yields.

But then came the backlash. Since the turn of the century, a trend for more natural, organic food has grown, with consumer protests in Europe against GM food. More recently, vegetarian and vegan diets have become popular, not just due to health and animal welfare concerns, but also because scientists have noted the contribution of livestock to global carbon emissions.

Companies such as Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods have developed plant-based alternatives that are fast gaining traction. Indeed, the trend is so strong that even traditional meat businesses, such as Tyson Foods, are getting involved. 

At this week’s World Economic Forum’s meeting in Davos (buzzing with chatter about plant-based start-ups), the organisers told local catering services that “protein must be served in reasonable portions” of 120g-140g. One day of the conference has been designated entirely meat free.

There is an irony here: even as plant-based alternatives to meat become trendy, they are arguably making food less “natural” and less “organic”. Impossible’s non-meat “burger”, for instance, uses complex chemical processes involving yeast to replicate the molecules found in meat.

What is peculiar — if not contradictory — is that the rocketing sales of these meat-like products somehow reinforces the idea that consuming “meat” or a pretend version of it is inevitable for humans; which, of course, is something the vegan movement was created to contest.

Given all this, I no longer think cultivating “real” meat in a lab is weird. Admittedly, it won’t be easy for some consumers to accept, particularly if they’ve spent the past decade buying organic. “A vocal minority of people in the west are still concerned about [genetically modified food],” admits Krieger.

However, as she points out, attitudes are shifting. “We now have a generation of consumers who have grown up with technology infusing all areas of their life [and] younger generations especially are concerned about how the foods they eat contribute to climate change.”

Of course, nobody knows whether Artemys can actually commercialise these bold ideas — or see off the numerous other start-ups looking to ride this “green” wave.

The key point is this: given that our attitudes towards food have already fluctuated in the past half century, there is no reason to think they will not alter significantly again. What seems utterly weird one day has a strange habit of becoming so normal that we never notice how our cultural assumptions have changed.

AnalysisFinancial services

‘Monstrous’ run for green stocks stokes bubble fears

Inflows into ESG funds are driving up stock prices for companies with green credentials