ENVIRONMENTAL LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS (LCA): IMPOSSIBLETM PORK MADE FROM PLANTS
Our mission at Impossible Foods is to transform the global food system and reduce the impact of climate change by making the world’s most delicious, nutritious, and sustainable meat, fish, and dairy products from plants — with a much smaller environmental footprint than meat from animals. With each new product category we launch, we produce Life Cycle Assessment(opens in a new tab) (or as they’re known in the industry, LCAs) to show the overall impact of our products compared to animal meat.
Each LCA we produce reflects the impact and emissions contributions throughout our supply chain for each product. We factor in the impact from ingredient sourcing, packaging, manufacturing, and operations to measure our products’ total footprint across land, water and greenhouse gas emissions.
To understand the environmental benefits of choosing Impossible Pork over pork from a pig, we worked with third-party consultants to generate a comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) — an addendum to our earlier, peer-reviewed LCA for Impossible Sausage(opens in a new tab). The LCA study evaluated Impossible Pork against multiple animal-based benchmarks (including animal pork-based sausage products produced in the U.S., East Asia, and Europe).
Here’s a summary of that analysis, with the full analysis available for download below.
OVERVIEW: IMPOSSIBLE PORK HAS A FAR SMALLER ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT THAN GROUND PORK FROM PIGS
The LCA for Impossible Pork found that, compared to animal-based pork produced in the U.S., Impossible Pork Made From Plants:
Generates 77% less greenhouse gases
Requires 66% less land area in a year
Has an 81% lower water footprint
And generates 52% less aquatic eutrophication
Compared to animal based pork produced in East Asia, Impossible Pork Made From Plants:
Generates 73% less greenhouse gases
Requires 82% less land area in a year
Has a 85% lower water footprint
And generates 52% less aquatic eutrophication
Impossible™ products are currently produced in the US, and our comparison accounts for the typical energy cost of shipping to East Asia or Europe.
The results of the LCA studies clearly show that our plant-based pork has a far lighter footprint on planet earth compared to pork from a pig, whether consumed in the U.S., East Asia, or Europe. Our Impact Calculator is already updated to include Impossible Pork and to help show what a difference every meal can make.
Interested in learning more? You can find the full results of this LCA in the downloadable PDF below.
QUESTIONS?
Reach out to us at [email protected]