SINGAPORE - Asia’s 10 biggest economies will need to diversify between 30 and 90 per cent of their traditional protein production to include alternatives by 2060, in order to reduce carbon emissions and achieve the Paris Agreement goals.

This is according to a recent report published by Asia Research & Engagement (ARE), a social enterprise working on sustainable development.

According to the report, emissions from animal protein production and sourcing increasingly jeopardise the food industry, its profitability and financing.

Livestock, a main source of protein in most markets, is energy intensive, accounting for 68 per cent of emissions in the food industry, and requiring more land and resources than plant-based foods.

With global consumption of protein increasing by 45 per cent in the first two decades of this century, and Asia accounting for 60 per cent of the growth, Dr Kate Blaszak, director of Protein Transition at ARE, said there is an urgent need for diversification of protein sources to minimise carbon emissions.

“If we don’t transition, we’re not going to reach the Paris Agreement goals,” she said.

The deal’s overarching goal is to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 deg C above pre-industrial levels, and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 deg C above pre-industrial levels.

Dr Blaszak outlined certain aspects of this protein transition: responsible but limited animal protein through fair labour, ensuring humane conditions in farms, as well as zero deforestation for livestock, and more sustainable alternative protein sources that are energy and cost efficient.

She calls Asia “the world’s food bowl”, producing 40 to 45 per cent of the world’s meat.

ARE’s research focused on its 10 biggest markets: China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, India and Pakistan.

In 2021, China produced 90.74 million tonnes of meat and consumed 100 million tonnes, 60 per cent of which was pork.

Based on its research, ARE stresses that a reduction of animal-based protein production must begin as soon as 2030. Should action not be taken, and protein manufacturing continue in its current state, the effects of climate change will worsen.

As a result, Dr Blaszak said, global food security will be compromised. “We’d be looking at potential major insecurity for grain crops that either feed us directly, or go to animal feed, (and there will be) major impacts on animal production due to heat, disease and other changes,” she said.

She highlighted that Singapore, with high levels of animal protein consumption – 205,600 tonnes of chicken alone in 2020 – will need to diversify its protein sources.

Food and agriculture is a “hard-to-abate” sector, explained Mr Dave Luo Jiaxuan, analyst at ARE, meaning it involves high emissions and is difficult to decarbonise.

“The supply chains and the way emissions are released throughout the supply chain are very much dispersed,” explained Mr Luo. “For example, a lot of our animal feed that we source in China, is from South America.”

This means that concerted cross-border efforts must be made immediately to work towards the Paris Agreement goals.

Mr Luo emphasised a need for intercontinental effort, as the food and agriculture sector “requires collaboration between parties on the same supply chain, but in very different geographic regions”.

Similarly, countries can work together to diversify the production of alternative protein sources.

According to Professor William Chen, director of the Nanyang Technological University’s Food Science and Technology programme, a pan-Asia initiative is “both synergistic and complementary for diversification of protein sources such that one country does not need to produce all kinds of alternative proteins on its own”.

He is also a consultant with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on global policy related to alternative proteins.

Mr John Cheng, founder and managing director of Innovate 360, Singapore’s first food accelerator, said: “It is important that we bring together the best minds, start-ups and funding to overcome climate change.”

Striving to be an alternative food hub, Singapore has many research and development (R&D) projects that look into energy-efficient alternative protein sources.

Prof Chen cited some such projects including Altimate Nutrition, which manufactures protein bars using insects or fungi-based protein developed by scientists at NTU that could be more nutritious than other plant-based meat options.

Ms Mirte Gosker, managing director of the Good Food Institute APAC, highlighted a project by a Singaporean scientist, Professor Mark Richards at Nanyang Polytechnic. He is working on closing the cultivated meat price gap by replacing existing expensive animal-based ingredients, such as commonly used animal serum, with more cost-efficient plant-based options, a particularly key issue as sustainable efforts increasingly turn towards these alternative food sources.

Beyond R&D, ARE’s research targets actors like policymakers, banks and food companies, including Charoen Pokphand Foods in Thailand, CJ CheilJedang in South Korea and DBS Bank, which can make greater institutional change to facilitate greater adoption.

On an individual level, Mr Luo urges Singapore residents to become “flexitarian” and incorporate more plant-based foods into their diets to reduce levels of meat consumption.

Mr Cheng agreed, adding that “it’s a matter of awareness, changing habits to do our part to be climate friendly”.

Both individuals and bigger actors must make concerted efforts to spur the food and agriculture sector towards energy efficiency such that the Paris Agreement goals and overall climate safety can be achieved.

“If Asia doesn’t go all-in on reimagining the way that meat, dairy, and eggs get to our plates, the only question the world will be left asking itself is, ‘how much did we fall short?’” said Ms Gosker.