Categories: News

Palm oil alternative start-ups face similar challenges to the sustainable synthetic biology sphere

James Dinneen (whose byline you may recognize from a recent Counter feature on the future of the ancient Solanum jamesii potato) reports on the emergence of palm oil alternatives for Mother Jones. Palm oil production is notorious for causing significant global deforestation in tropical regions and has long been tied to exploitative labor practices. Now, biotech startups are working to manufacture microbial yeast oils using carbon captured from the atmosphere. It’s a tricky venture, financially speaking: Palm oil isn’t just the world’s most widely used vegetable oil. It’s also the cheapest. To be economically viable, some experts believe microbial alternatives would also need to be joined with regulatory policies phasing out unsustainably produced palm oil. Of course, financial feasibility isn’t a concern just for companies in the “pretend palm oil race.” Countless other synthetic biology companies, including lab-grown meat producers, are grappling with similar obstacles. Alex Hinton

Related Post
The Counter
Share
Published by
The Counter

Recent Posts

Grist acquires The Counter and launches food and agriculture vertical

Grist, an award-winning, nonprofit media organization dedicated to highlighting climate solutions and uncovering environmental injustices,…

6 months ago

Is California giving its methane digesters too much credit?

Every year, California dairy farms emit hundreds of thousands of tons of the potent greenhouse…

2 years ago

Your car is killing coho salmon

Highway 7 runs north-south through western Washington, carving its way through a landscape sparsely dotted…

2 years ago

The pandemic has transformed America’s dining landscape into an oligopoly dominated by chains 

One of the greatest pleasures I had as a child growing up in the Chicago…

2 years ago

California is moving toward food assistance for all populations—including undocumented immigrants

Undocumented immigrants experience food insecurity at much higher rates than other populations, yet they are…

2 years ago

Babka, borscht … and pumpkin spice? Two writers talk about Jewish identity through contemporary cookbooks.

Writer Charlotte Druckman and editor Rebecca Flint Marx are both Jewish journalists living in New…

3 years ago