Investors Call On All Major Food Companies To Divest From Animal Products

A group of investors responsible for trillions of US dollars in assets has called on all major food companies to divest from animal products.

A recent report from the FAIRR Initiative, a collaborative investor network, called for protein diversification to safeguard food supply chains during increasingly unpredictable times. It stated that investment in plant-based foods would also help enhance affordability and the plant-based sector overall.

The report is part of FAIRR’s ongoing Protein Diversification engagement, which specifically calls on companies to support the transition to healthy, sustainable diets by integrating protein diversification into their climate strategies. In short, they want companies to invest more in plants and less in meat to protect the food system.

The FAIRR Protein Diversification engagement is supported by a group of 73 investors who represent $11.5 trillion in combined assets. These investors have engaged with 20 major companies, including Nestlé, Kraft Heinz, Danone, Walmart, and Amazon, through FAIRR, to discuss climate and protein targets.

The new report found that many companies are hesitant to discuss their climate goals publicly, and just 25 percent of companies with existing decarbonisation plans specify the emissions reduction potential of those plans. FAIRR called on them to “harness the opportunity” and transition away from animal products.

According to the new report, the food system is “increasingly vulnerable” to supply chain disruptions driven by conflict, disease outbreaks, and worsening extreme weather caused by the climate crisis. Animal agriculture supply chains, which contribute more than a third of global protein consumption, are particularly vulnerable.

‘Protein diversification is a key element to reduce your CO2 emissions’

Photo shows the refrigerated section of a supermarket, including a selection of plant-based meats and other products. A group of investors has called on major companies to divest from animal products to save the food system — Adobe Stock Plant-based foods and alternative proteins have a far smaller environmental footprint than meat and dairy

The recently updated Eat Lancet Report suggested that a global shift towards the Planetary Health Diet, which is omnivorous but emphasizes nutritious, sustainable plant-based foods, could prevent more than 40,000 early deaths per day.

Meanwhile, a lifecycle analysis of plant-based meat from 2024 found that alternative proteins have an 89 percent lower environmental impact than traditional animal products, while a study from early November showed that a fully vegan diet can almost halve your carbon footprint. Despite this, private investment in key plant-based proteins like legumes and pulses notably fell from nearly $7 billion in 2021 to a little more than $1 billion in 2024, as reported by Reuters.

“For food and retail, protein diversification is a key element to reduce your CO2 emissions,” Sophie Kamphuis, senior advisor for responsible investment at MN, an asset management firm from the Netherlands, told Reuters. “We like it if companies set sales targets and launch products, but we also want that to be replacing animal proteins.”