Bill Gates Says Rich Countries Should Be Eating 100% Synthetic Beef
The world’s third richest man, Bill Gates is suggesting that ‘rich nations’ shun consumption of beef and switch over to the synthetic kind to help address climate change.
Speaking to the MIT Technology Review regarding his new book “How to Avoid Climate Disaster,” the billionaire and Microsoft co-founder talked about how the food sector could help mitigate climate disaster.
He said opting for the synthetic type of meat — beef in particular — could help reduce greenhouse gases, which is driving climate change. He lamented, however, that politics could keep first-world countries from switching to fully synthetic in the consumption of beef.
Bill Gates: Rich nations should move to "100 percent synthetic beef" https://t.co/uCoZmEzYaS pic.twitter.com/J3U51mqGWo
— The Hill (@thehill) February 17, 2021
As part of the interview, Bill Gates was asked: “Do you think plant-based and lab-grown meats could be the full solution to the protein problem globally, even in poor nations? Or do you think it’s going to be some fraction because of the things you’re talking about, the cultural love of a hamburger and the way livestock is so central to economies around the world?”
The billionaire-philanthropist, who also co-chairs his own Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said the option to switch to synthetic meat should be borne by richer countries and not the poorer ones.
“For Africa and other poor countries, we’ll have to use animal genetics to dramatically raise the amount of beef per emissions for them. Weirdly, the US livestock, because they’re so productive, the emissions per pound of beef are dramatically less than emissions per pound in Africa,” Gates replied.
“As part of the [Bill and Melinda Gates] Foundation’s work, we’re taking the benefit of the African livestock, which means they can survive in heat, and crossing in the monstrous productivity both on the meat side and the milk side of the elite US beef lines,” he added.
“So no, I don’t think the poorest 80 countries will be eating synthetic meat,” the billionaire went on. “I do think all rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef.”
As he called on the richer countries to do the transition, Gates, who is also chairman of the investment fund Breakthrough Energy Ventures said people from wealthy nations could just “get used” to synthetic beef taste overtime.
“You can get used to the taste difference, and the claim is they’re going to make it taste even better over time. Eventually, that green premium is modest enough that you can sort of change the [behavior of] people or use regulation to totally shift the demand,” he said. “So for meat in the middle-income-and-above countries, I do think it’s possible.”
The Microsoft co-founder said synthetic proteins would be needed to create the environmental-friendly version of the beef since cows produce methane, a greenhouse gas.
“In terms of livestock, it’s very difficult. There are all the things where they feed them different food, like there’s this one compound that gives you a 20% reduction [in methane emissions]. But sadly, those bacteria [in their digestive system that produce methane] are a necessary part of breaking down the grass.”
“And so I don’t know if there’ll be some natural approach there. I’m afraid the synthetic [protein alternatives like plant-based burgers] will be required for at least the beef thing,” Gates explained.
Nonetheless, the billionaire noted that the real challenge is in politics.
“The politics [are challenging]. There are all these bills that say it’s got to be called, basically, lab garbage to be sold. They don’t want us to use the beef label,” he said.
The issue on greenhouse gas emissions from cattle earlier caught national spotlight when self-proclaimed Democrat socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez targeted emissions from ‘farting cows’ in pushing her ambitious “Green New Deal” resolution which aims to fundamentally reimagine the US economy to be more ‘environmentally friendly.”
"I definitely had a staffer that had a very bad day at work," @AOC said in response to a question about her controversial #GreenNewDeal FAQ that mentioned "farting cows"
She labeled it a "working draft" that was released too early by said staffer.https://t.co/ea17ZG48nx pic.twitter.com/vLoHFt9faA
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) March 30, 2019
“We set a goal to get to net-zero, rather than zero emissions, in 10 years because we aren’t sure that we’ll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast,” the draft of the measure which AOC put forward with Sen. Edward Markey (Massachusetts) said.
But while the methane from cows is often tagged as the main greenhouse gas source from agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said agriculture as a whole only accounts for 9% of US greenhouse gases, far behind bigger emitters like transportation and electricity generation.
