The cellular agriculture industry faces pressure to communicate its impact potential to policymakers, investors, and consumers. However, most impact claims companies make are often aspirational, reflecting an industry at scale that may not align with short-term or medium-term realities.
Vague and ambiguous claims such as “future-friendly,” “planet-friendly,” “kinder,” “cleaner,” and “clean”; metrics such as “animal lives saved” or “deaths avoided,” which are difficult to verify; and specific claims such as “100x less land” or “90% less GHG emissions” open companies to potential litigation if not verifiable. These claims could harm investor confidence, alienate future consumers, and deter government support.
These are the statements of a new report by Cellular Agriculture Australia (CAA), which calls for industry stakeholders to collaborate on prioritizing impact areas, claims, and metrics, as better-managed communication presents an opportunity to strengthen industry credibility and future-proof the sector.
Credible, evidence-backed claims
The report, targeted primarily at industry leaders, offers valuable insights for cultivated meat and precision-fermented companies looking to commercialize products. While focused on Australia, the report’s findings apply globally, stressing the need for credible, evidence-backed claims amidst increasing global harmonization of ESG and impact reporting standards to take action on greenwashing.
Additionally, the report highlights the importance of reliable Life Cycle Assessments (LCA), the challenges of early-stage impact measurement, and the necessity of embedding sustainability practices from the beginning, as learned from other industries such as plant-based protein, sustainable fashion, and electric vehicles.
The authors included a snapshot of current claims by cell ag companies and have provided various case studies analyzing the messages of companies such as Aleph Farms and Mosa Meat, highlighting emerging trends and concerns.
Tom Chapman, Sustainability and Impact Advisor, contractor for The Good Food Institute, shares, “As ESG and impact standards harmonize globally, transparent, evidence-backed claims are essential to safeguarding industry credibility and ensuring long-term success.”
Calling Australia’s cell ag companies
CAA is a not-for-profit dedicated to advancing the cellular agriculture sector in Australia, working with diverse stakeholders, such as companies, universities, investors, regulators, and government agencies.
The new report, “Impact Claims and Metrics: Considerations for the Cellular Agriculture Industry,” seeks to further impact metrics work but does not propose a definitive set of metrics or framework. To do so, CAA plans to engage the Australian sector with activities like the upcoming workshop “Cultivating accountability — evidence gaps in cellular agriculture” in partnership with Food Frontier at Alt Proteins 24.
This report follows other resources released by the non-profit, such as Regulation Resource Hub, a language guide on the industry’s terminology; Pathways into Cell Ag, a research tool for students into cellular agriculture research; and a course on cellular agriculture launched in collaboration with industry, academia, and regulatory organizations.
CAA’s new report can be found here.
