Sustainability Atlas
Food, Agriculture & Materials·14 min read··...

Interview: practitioners on alternative proteins

the hidden trade-offs and how to manage them. Focus on an emerging standard shaping buyer requirements.

When plant-based proteins emit 40 to 100 times less greenhouse gas per 100 grams of protein than conventional beef, the environmental case seems unassailable. Yet practitioners across the UK's £1.4 billion alternative protein sector reveal a more nuanced reality: hidden trade-offs in water consumption, supply chain transparency, and Scope 3 accounting are reshaping what buyers actually require. In conversations with food scientists, procurement directors, and sustainability leads, a consistent theme emerges—the gap between laboratory performance metrics and commercial-scale buyer expectations remains the industry's most underestimated challenge.

Why It Matters

The UK alternative protein market reached £1.4 billion in 2025, with projections suggesting growth to £6.2 billion by 2035 at a compound annual growth rate of 16 percent. This trajectory positions the UK as Europe's second-largest public research funder in alternative proteins, having invested £75 million since the 2021 National Food Strategy. The November 2024 launch of the National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre, backed by £15 million in government funding plus £23 million in co-investment, signals strategic commitment at the highest policy levels.

For procurement teams navigating corporate sustainability mandates, the stakes extend beyond market share. Major UK retailers including Tesco, Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer, Asda, Lidl, Ocado, and the Co-operative have joined the BRC Mondra Coalition, implementing unified product carbon footprinting methodologies from farm to fork. Sainsbury's commitment to net-zero Scope 3 emissions by 2050 means their 3,000-plus suppliers face imminent disclosure requirements. By 2026, tier-one suppliers representing 70 to 80 percent of spend must provide product-level carbon footprint data—not company averages, but granular assessments for major product categories.

The alternative proteins sector holds a significant competitive advantage in this landscape. Plant-based proteins use 20 to 50 times less land than lamb or beef per equivalent protein content. Insect-based proteins require 102 times less land and 35 times less water than ruminants. Microbe-derived proteins demonstrate up to 2,000 times lower land use. Alternative proteins rank second globally for technical climate mitigation potential at 6.1 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent per year—six times the impact of eliminating all air travel. These figures explain why buyer requirements are evolving so rapidly.

Key Concepts

Regenerative Sourcing: Beyond "sustainable," regenerative approaches to ingredient sourcing actively restore ecosystem function. For alternative protein manufacturers, this means evaluating whether pea protein suppliers implement cover cropping, reduce tillage, and measure soil carbon sequestration. UK practitioners report that regenerative certification commands a 15 to 25 percent price premium but increasingly satisfies buyer scorecards that weight environmental outcomes alongside cost.

Project Finance for Scale-Up: The transition from pilot facilities to commercial production requires capital structures that traditional food industry financing struggles to accommodate. Project finance mechanisms—where debt is secured against specific production assets rather than corporate balance sheets—have enabled facilities like those developed by fermentation companies to raise the £50 million to £200 million required for commercial-scale bioreactors. The risk profile resembles infrastructure more than consumer goods, demanding investor education that many UK startups underestimate.

Water Footprint Accounting: While alternative proteins dramatically reduce land use, water intensity varies significantly by production method and geography. Precision fermentation facilities require substantial water for cooling and cleaning, with some UK operations consuming 15 to 30 litres per kilogram of final product. Practitioners emphasise that water-stressed sourcing regions for pea and soy feedstocks can undermine otherwise favourable environmental profiles. The WRAP Scope 3 Protocols now include water as a mandatory disclosure category, requiring lifecycle assessments that extend to irrigation practices at the farm level.

Scope 3 Emissions Transparency: For food businesses, up to 95 percent of total carbon footprint originates in Scope 3—supply chain emissions outside direct operational control. The Science Based Targets initiative requires companies to set specific Scope 3 targets when these emissions exceed 40 percent of the total, which applies to virtually every food company. Alternative protein suppliers providing supplier-specific emissions data, rather than industry averages, gain preferential positioning. The UK Food Data Transparency Partnership's April 2024 recognition of WRAP Scope 3 Protocols establishes these as the definitive methodology for UK food and drink businesses.

End-to-End Traceability: Buyer requirements now extend beyond carbon metrics to encompass provenance verification. Digital product passports linking raw material origins to finished goods enable procurement teams to verify claims about regenerative farming, fair labour practices, and non-GMO sourcing. Blockchain-based traceability systems, though still maturing, provide immutable records that satisfy audit requirements. Practitioners note that traceability infrastructure costs 2 to 5 percent of product value but increasingly determines contract eligibility.

What's Working and What Isn't

What's Working

Fermentation Technology Investment: Fermentation-derived proteins captured £651 million globally in 2024, representing 43 percent growth while other categories contracted. UK facilities such as Imperial College London's £12.6 million Microbial Food Hub demonstrate the technology's scalability advantages. Precision fermentation produces consistent, high-purity proteins without the batch variability that plagued early plant-based formulations. Practitioners report that fermentation's controlled production environment enables more reliable carbon footprint calculations, satisfying buyer requirements for data precision.

Retailer Coalition Standardisation: The BRC Mondra Coalition's unified carbon footprinting methodology eliminates the fragmentation that previously forced suppliers to maintain multiple accounting frameworks for different customers. Participation by major UK retailers creates economies of scale in data infrastructure. Suppliers investing in compatible systems gain access to the combined purchasing power of coalition members. One procurement director noted that standardisation reduced their verification costs by 40 percent while improving data comparability across supplier submissions.

Ingredient-Level Innovation: Rather than competing directly with whole-muscle meat products, UK companies focusing on ingredient supply to food manufacturers have found more reliable revenue streams. Hoxton Farms' cultivated fat technology addresses flavour and texture challenges in plant-based formulations without requiring full regulatory approval for cultivated meat products. This B2B model generates recurring revenue while cultivated meat awaits broader regulatory clearance—a strategic positioning that investors increasingly favour.

What Isn't Working

Regulatory Approval Timelines: The UK's novel food approval process typically exceeds 12 months for dossier review, with startups often modifying technologies during the waiting period, triggering new submission requirements. No cultivated meat products have received UK approval, despite Singapore and the United States granting clearances in 2020 and 2023 respectively. This regulatory lag undermines the UK's ability to capture first-mover advantages despite substantial R&D investment. Practitioners describe a "valley of death" between laboratory success and commercial authorisation.

Price Parity Challenges: Consumer adoption data from 2024 shows plant-based retail meat at 1.7 percent of total packaged meat dollar sales, with margins compressed 8 percent year-over-year due to protein input inflation. Premium pricing strategies that worked during initial market enthusiasm face resistance as household budgets tighten. Investors now prioritise demonstrated paths to price parity, making early-stage cultivated meat ventures—with production costs still exceeding £50 per kilogram—increasingly difficult to fund.

Scope 3 Data Quality: While alternative proteins offer inherent emissions advantages, many suppliers struggle to provide the product-level carbon footprint data buyers require. Industry averages satisfy basic disclosure but fail to demonstrate competitive differentiation. Practitioners report that agricultural suppliers for pea and soy proteins frequently lack the measurement infrastructure for supplier-specific emissions data, forcing manufacturers to invest in upstream capacity building that delays their own compliance timelines.

Key Players

Established Leaders

Quorn Foods (Stokesley, North Yorkshire): The UK's largest alternative protein brand, owned by Monde Nissin, operates industrial-scale mycoprotein fermentation with four decades of commercial production experience. Their Fusarium venenatum fermentation process remains the benchmark for scaling microbial protein manufacturing.

Meatless Farm (Leeds): One of Europe's fastest-growing plant-based brands, with distribution across 22 countries and partnerships with major UK supermarkets. Their focus on whole-cut alternatives addresses texture challenges that limit competitor products.

Nestlé UK (Gatwick): Through the Garden Gourmet brand, Nestlé leverages global R&D resources for UK market formulations. Their supplier engagement programme requires Scope 3 target-setting from 70 percent of their supply chain by emissions volume.

Tesco PLC (Welwyn Garden City): As the UK's largest retailer, Tesco's procurement requirements effectively set market standards. Their Plant Chef private label brand demonstrates commitment while their participation in the Mondra Coalition shapes industry-wide carbon measurement practices.

Kerry Group (Naas, Ireland with major UK operations): A B2B ingredient supplier enabling reformulation across the food industry, Kerry's ProDiem pea protein and taste modulation technologies address palatability barriers for plant-based manufacturers.

Emerging Startups

Hoxton Farms (London): Raised £19.3 million in September 2024 for cultivated fat technology. Their ingredient-focused strategy bypasses whole-product regulatory complexity while addressing the flavour limitations of plant-based formulations.

THIS (London): Secured £25.4 million in June 2024, positioning as a mass-market plant-based brand with price points competitive with conventional meat. Their retail partnerships with Sainsbury's and Tesco demonstrate scaled distribution capability.

Ivy Farm Technologies (Oxford): Aims to become the first UK company selling cultivated meat products, with total funding exceeding £20 million. Their projected £1.7 billion industry by 2030 reflects ambitions for the cultivated sector despite regulatory delays.

Deep Branch Biotechnology (Nottingham): Converts industrial CO2 emissions into single-cell protein for animal feed, addressing the alternative protein value chain beyond human consumption. Their €8 million Series A attracted Novo Holdings and DSM Venturing.

Better Dairy (London): Produces animal-free dairy proteins through precision fermentation for cheese, ice cream, and yogurt applications. Their technology addresses the cheese category where plant-based alternatives have historically struggled with functionality.

Key Investors & Funders

Agronomics Limited (London Stock Exchange): The UK's only publicly traded investment vehicle focused exclusively on cellular agriculture, with a portfolio spanning 35 companies including Aleph Farms and Meatable. Their public listing provides retail investor access to the alternative protein sector.

Lever VC (London/New York): Europe's largest dedicated alternative protein fund with over 30 portfolio companies. Their 2024 investments include a £135 million Series B for Redefine Meat, demonstrating continued appetite for scaled businesses.

UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council: Administered the £15 million National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre grant, coordinating academic-industry partnerships across the University of Leeds, James Hutton Institute, University of Sheffield, and Imperial College London.

Breakthrough Energy Ventures: Bill Gates-backed climate fund with investments in Neutral Foods (£10 million in 2024) and UPSIDE Foods. Their participation signals mainstream climate investment thesis alignment with alternative proteins.

EQT Ventures (Stockholm with UK portfolio): Led Formo's €61 million Series B in 2024, one of Europe's largest alternative protein rounds. Their growth equity focus reflects investor preference for later-stage, de-risked opportunities.

Examples

Tesco and Mondra Coalition Implementation: Tesco's 2024 integration of the Mondra platform across 500 supplier relationships generated baseline carbon footprint data for over 2,000 product lines. Within six months, suppliers demonstrating >30 percent improvement in carbon intensity per kilogram gained preferential shelf placement in pilot stores. The programme identified that 12 percent of existing suppliers lacked capacity for product-level measurement, triggering a £2 million capability-building initiative. Preliminary results showed 18 percent reduction in weighted-average Scope 3 emissions across participating categories.

Imperial College Microbial Food Hub Commercialisation: The £12.6 million UKRI-funded facility at White City processed 15 collaborative projects between university researchers and industry partners in its first year of operation. Three spin-out companies emerged, collectively raising £8 million in seed funding. The hub's shared bioreactor infrastructure reduced capital barriers for early-stage ventures from approximately £5 million to under £500,000 for proof-of-concept production runs, accelerating time-to-market by an estimated 18 months.

Sainsbury's Scope 3 Supplier Engagement Programme: Following their net-zero 2050 commitment, Sainsbury's piloted a tiered supplier engagement framework with 200 alternative protein vendors in 2024. Suppliers achieving Science Based Targets initiative validation received 5-year contract commitments versus standard annual renewals. The programme achieved 78 percent SBTi commitment rates among participating suppliers, compared to 34 percent across Sainsbury's broader supplier base, demonstrating that procurement incentives effectively accelerate sustainability transitions.

Action Checklist

  • Conduct product-level carbon footprint assessment using WRAP Scope 3 Protocols methodology before 2026 buyer disclosure deadlines
  • Register with the BRC Mondra Coalition platform to align measurement systems with major UK retailer requirements
  • Evaluate supplier-specific emissions data availability for key agricultural inputs, prioritising pea and soy protein sources
  • Develop water footprint accounting beyond carbon, including irrigation intensity at farm level for feedstock origins
  • Assess fermentation technology partnerships for production scalability, given investor preference for proven manufacturing pathways
  • Establish traceability infrastructure connecting raw material provenance to finished product digital passports
  • Pursue Science Based Targets initiative validation to access preferential contract terms from major UK retailers
  • Investigate National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre grant opportunities through the University of Leeds partnership network
  • Benchmark pricing strategy against conventional protein equivalents, demonstrating credible path to price parity
  • Engage regulatory consultants for novel food dossier preparation, accounting for 12-plus month approval timelines

FAQ

Q: How do alternative proteins compare on water usage versus conventional animal agriculture? A: While land use advantages are dramatic, water footprinting reveals important nuances. Insect-based proteins require approximately 35 times less water than ruminants per equivalent protein output. However, precision fermentation facilities consume 15 to 30 litres per kilogram for cooling and cleaning operations. Plant-based proteins' water footprint depends heavily on feedstock sourcing—pea protein from rain-fed UK cultivation differs substantially from irrigated production in water-stressed regions. Comprehensive lifecycle assessment must include agricultural water use, processing requirements, and wastewater treatment. The WRAP Scope 3 Protocols now mandate water disclosure, making this a competitive differentiator rather than optional reporting.

Q: What Scope 3 disclosure requirements will UK alternative protein suppliers face by 2026? A: Tier-one suppliers representing 70 to 80 percent of major retailer spend must provide product-level carbon footprint data by 2026. The UK Food Data Transparency Partnership's April 2024 recognition of WRAP Scope 3 Protocols establishes the mandatory methodology. Suppliers must demonstrate supplier-specific emissions data rather than industry averages—a requirement that many agricultural feedstock providers cannot yet satisfy. Companies failing to meet disclosure standards risk exclusion from retailer scorecards that increasingly weight sustainability performance alongside cost. The Climate Bonds Initiative's October 2024 Alternative Proteins Criteria further codifies what "1.5°C-aligned" means for the sector.

Q: Why has investment shifted toward fermentation and away from cultivated meat? A: Global cultivated meat funding collapsed to £36 million through Q3 2025, while fermentation captured £651 million in 2024 alone—a 43 percent increase. Investors cite three factors: fermentation offers clearer paths to price parity through established bioprocessing economics; regulatory approval for fermentation-derived ingredients proceeds faster than whole cultivated products; and production costs have reached commercial viability, with fermentation proteins achievable at £5 to £15 per kilogram versus cultivated meat still exceeding £50 per kilogram. The UK regulatory environment compounds this shift, with no cultivated meat approvals despite Singapore and US clearances years prior.

Q: How should small-scale alternative protein producers approach buyer requirements they cannot yet meet? A: Practitioners recommend staged compliance strategies. First, join coalition platforms like Mondra to access shared infrastructure rather than building proprietary systems. Second, focus initial investment on data collection capability—even incomplete supplier-specific emissions data positions vendors ahead of competitors relying on industry averages. Third, leverage programmes like the National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre's academic partnerships for measurement methodology support. Fourth, consider B2B ingredient supply to established brands as a pathway to market access while building direct-to-retailer capabilities. Contract structures increasingly accommodate transition timelines for suppliers demonstrating credible improvement trajectories.

Q: What distinguishes UK buyer requirements from EU or US markets? A: The UK's post-Brexit regulatory independence enables faster novel food approvals in principle, though implementation has lagged. The WRAP Scope 3 Protocols provide UK-specific methodology that differs from EU CSRD requirements, potentially simplifying compliance for UK-focused suppliers. UK retailer coalition participation through the BRC Mondra platform creates unified standards not replicated in fragmented US markets. However, the UK's smaller market size means achieving production scale often requires export strategies, necessitating parallel compliance with multiple regulatory frameworks. Practitioners recommend prioritising UK compliance as the baseline while monitoring EU and US requirements for expansion scenarios.

Sources

Topics

regenerativeproject financewaterScope 3traceability

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