Plant-Based Milk Inspires Environmental Conscious Diet

2020 has seen existential challenges, from a global pandemic, to unprecedented, record breaking heat, storms and other extreme weather such as floors, droughts and forest fires around the world. Fundamental shifts had been called in the society, in that how people live and work, how the community interact and even how people eat.

As the food industry generates about twice the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from the world total transportation, voice is that a sustainable resilient food system is needed. Among with all the solutions and options for people to improve their living and to ensure the future of the planet, revolutionary plant-based milk products boom as leaders to inspire a new way of living and eating.

According to a report released by TMIC (Tmall Innovation Center) that an 800% growth had been observed in China’s plant-based drink market, with consumer number increased by 900%, representing a 15.5% contribution on the beverage market growth. Plant-based milk aims to develop a plant-based food that people could use as a substitute for cow’s milk and to inspire a new way of living and eating, one that combines nutrition value and environmental sustainability. On one hand, plant-base milk could source sufficiently on production materials, including soybean, coconut, walnut, almond, oat and many others. Variation on the raw materials provides different tasting experience and rich potential for those plant-based products to be served on daily life. In the context of nutrition, most plantbased milk is of low energy, low fat, high fibre, and suitable for those with lactose intolerance. On another hand, most importantly, plant-based milk sources upstream from plant and help release the environmental pressure with traditional cow milk production, providing people with low carbon footprint and sustainability conscious products. With a shorter supply chain, less water input and land resource usage, plant-based milk is taking an important stride on offering a more environmental friendly option to traditional cow’s milk.

Importantly, today plant-based milk companies are not only selling low greenhouse gas products, but also try to communicate with the food industry with a more sustainable food supply chain system, and to inspire the community a large-scale transition toward a more plant-based diet and environment conscious lifestyles.

Environments focus of the plant-based milk industry also extend to a sustainable food system with closing working with farmers in diversifying their plants, helping them to adopt sustainable practices on agriculture that is efficient and without heavily taxing the planet’s resources.

Companies are also increasingly engaged in research and development fields of sustainability and health and help getting the message out to chain players and consumers. Working with business chain partners on paper-container recycling is one of the sustainable campaign that being observed. Recycling bins with plant-based milk designing are placed along the pedestrian malls to interact with consumers on sustainable responsibility and resource efficiency.

By understanding the climate footprint and environmental impact behind the food people had and even a cup of coffee or milk, chain players and consumers work together to make small changes every day. At the same time, the booming plantbased milk market follows with expanding companies, increasing number of employees, transportation of more products to different overseas markets and so on, which also call for a careful calculation on the climate footprint related to energy per litre of product being produced and setting a target to balance or to decrease the total climate impact.

Though the plant-based milk products with low greenhouse gas footprint and these sustainable campaigns and practices are still on their early phrases, it can be seen that, plant-based milk empowers people to choose products that improving their consumer experience as well as inspiring a lifestyle to ensure the future of the planet..