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Video

2025 AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo.

Protein and Co-Products

Health and Nutrition

Plant-Based Proteins and Co-Products – Safety and Sustainability II

Comparative life cycle assessment of plant- and animal-based meats

Monday, April 28, 2025

4:15 PM – 4:35 PM PST

Room: B113

Presenting Author(s)

Nikhita Mansukhani Kogar, PhD

Principal Scientist
The Good Food Institute
Los Angeles, CA, United States

Slides

Co-Author(s)

PP

Priera Panescu Scott

Lead Scientist
The Good Food Institute, United States
JB

Joel Bonales-Revuelta

Sustainability Analyst
EarthShift Global, United States
AB

Amanda Bess

Analysis Program Manager
The Good Food Institute, United States
JB

Juanita Barrera

Senior Sustainability Advisor
EarthShift Global, United States
AS

Amalia Sojo

Director of Analytical Services
EarthShift Global, United States

Abstract:

Reducing the environmental impacts of food production, particularly meat production, is critical to support global food security and address climate change, pollution, and resource depletion. Alternative proteins—meat made from plants, cultivated from animal cells, or produced via fermentation—offer more sustainable protein sources while conserving meat-eating experiences. Plant-based meat, with its growing market share and widespread accessibility, is positioned as a key part of a reimagined protein supply.

To evaluate the potential of plant-based meat to reduce the environmental impacts of the food system, The Good Food Institute commissioned EarthShift Global to complete a comprehensive, ISO-certified life cycle assessment (LCA). The goals of this project are to:

Demonstrate the environmental benefits of PB meat in comparison to animal-based meat.

Identify the most critical solutions to reduce the environmental impacts of PB meat.

This study evaluates and compares three plant-based meats with three animal-based meats (chicken, pork, and beef) among 18 environmental impact categories, from cradle-to-manufacturing gate, on a one-kilogram raw ground meat basis. Data was sourced from plant-based meat manufacturers, ingredient and equipment manufacturers, scientific papers, and commercially available datasets. Sensitivity analyses were performed on plant-based meat systems to understand how mass versus economic allocation methodology, extrudate crop geography, and energy source and efficiency affect their environmental footprints.

This study confirms that plant-based meats offer significant environmental benefits over conventional meat, regardless of how it is made. Plant-based meat has, on average, 89% less environmental impact than animal-based meat across the impact categories evaluated in this study. These trends remain consistent when considering economic versus mass allocation, uncertainty of input data, and plant-based crop geography. However, ingredient choices, particularly fats and oils, disproportionately affect environmental impacts. This study shows that ingredient choices, fractionation strategies, and extrusion methods can be optimized to maximize the environmental benefits of plant-based meats.