So, there I was, having lunch, chilling, having a good time. I was enjoying a Beyond Meat burger at home and I felt comforted and happy that by eating it I was making a choice that is good for the planet and making an impact, however small. Then comes my mom, and she poses a very valid question. It was a question that was probably aimed at getting me to finally shut up about environmentally conscious eating, at least for a little while (admittedly, I am quite annoying). She asked me, “Surely importing your Beyond Meat burger across the world makes it worse for the planet than our beef burgers?” I couldn’t answer, I wasn’t sure, but I was worried that she was right. So, of course, because she is my mom, I have to prove her wrong. Time for an experiment.
So, what are we trying to find out? We would like to see whether the environmental impact of producing and transporting plant-based meat around the world is greater than that of producing local red meat. The answer could determine the true environmentally friendlier option.
For this question, I will only be addressing the difference between Beyond Meat patties and regular beef patties, as the most information exists on these two foods.
First, we should probably see what the environmental difference between Beyond Meat patties and beef patties is without transport impacts. Luckily for us, there is a very comprehensive study conducted in 2018 by Martin Heller and Gregory Keoleian from the university of Michigan that measures this exactly. As shown in the graph below, Beyond Meat patties generate 90% less greenhouse gas emissions, need 46% less energy, 99.5% less water and have 93% less land impact.
Heller and Keoleian
Overall, it performs phenomenally better than red meat and is far better for the planet. If you live in the US.
For me to be able to eat a Beyond Meat patty, it has to be shipped to South Africa. The maritime transport industry has never been environmentally friendly and has numerous adverse effects on the environment. Most of this impact is from air pollution (i.e. greenhouse gas emissions), although there are other dangerous externalities which will be too difficult to include in this question. Do these adverse effects outweigh the benefits of having plant-based meat?
Heller and Keoleian
Bear with me now, it’s about to get technical. If I take the average CO2 emissions of freights, 40 grams per tonne kg, given by an OECD study, we can start figuring this out. Beyond Meat has manufacturing locations in California, Missouri, Europe and is rolling out factories in China soon. California is the furthest distance from South Africa, and also the location of Beyond Meat headquarters, so I will be using that location for prudence sake. It is approximately 16500 km from California to South Africa as the crow flies. So that means a shipment creates roughly 660 kg of CO2 per tonne (16500x0.04). One box of Beyond Meat patties weighs around 4.5kgs, meaning there are 222 boxes in a ton. By that logic, it costs the planet 2.97 kgs of CO2 to ship one box of patties (660/222). Finally, there are 40 patties in a box, meaning that is costs only 0.07kgs of CO2 to ship one Beyond Meat patty across the world (2.97/40)!
According to our original study, its costs 3.7kg of CO2 to produce one beef patty. With the added environmental cost of shipping, it costs 0.47kg of CO2 to produce and distribute one plant-based patty. Therefore, you could have 7 Beyond Meat patties and the environmental cost would still be just less than one beef patty. That means that if one Beyond Meat patty was a single Harry Potter book, you could finish the entire series before equalling one beef patty. I have to admit, I was quite astonished at the small difference transport costs when I calculated it, but when I think about how small one patty is, and how many patties they would transport in one ship, it seems to make more sense.
So, there we have it. In summary, mom, I was right. If you’re reading this and you are not my mother, I hope you at the very least learned something or are able to have a Beyond Meat burger with a little bit more comfort; it is the more environmentally friendly option.
Before you go, I would just like to say that this very crude experimented has been extremely simplified. The calculations I use are heavily reliant on my own assumptions and intuitive thinking and so my results probably would not hold up under intense scrutiny. However, I do believe if my calculations are wrong, the difference is negligible enough that the effects would still not push it over the threshold of 3.7kg. If anything, it would probably be a matter of grams in the end.
References:
http://css.umich.edu/sites/default/files/publication/CSS18-10.pdf
http://www.oecd.org/environment/envtrade/2386636.pdf
https://www.ecta.com/resources/Documents/Best%20Practices%20Guidelines/guideline_for_measuring_and_managing_co2.pdf
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/21/climate/plant-based-meat.html