Rethinking meat substitutes

Is excitement over meat alternatives overheated? Investors have poured billions of dollars into the sector to kickstart technologies that produce protein with ingredients such as peas, soybeans, mushrooms, and lab-grown animal cells, but they are unlikely to offset livestock agriculture's climate and land use impacts anytime soon, according to Stanford environmental scientist David Lobell. In the meantime, policymakers would do well to focus on ways to dramatically reduce emissions of animal-based systems.