Appetite for Change
Presented by
How Reversing Climate Change Can Define Our Generation
There are few issues as critical to human survival as food security. The inaugural Singapore International Agri-Food Week (SIAW) held in November 2021, highlighted the fragility of the world’s food systems due to climate change and growing populations and examined how technology and innovation in the agri-food sector play a vital role in bolstering food security and meeting Asia’s rapidly evolving food needs.
WHAT
WHY
HOW
Climate change is threatening Earth’s already fragile food systems. Rising temperatures have adversely impacted crop yield, with a disproportionate effect on the poor. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that crop yield may drop by up to 30% in 2050, due to climate change.
Temasek sees the decarbonisation challenge as a powerful opportunity to plot a path towards stability and prosperity – and is placing catalytic investment to address urgent global challenges and reduce emissions
To feed an estimated 10 billion people by 2050, we will require 56% more food which needs an additional 593 million hectare of land, an area nearly twice the size of India.
For future generations to survive and prosper, sustainable food production needs to be made an urgent global priority. As a recent report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reminds us, humanity is currently undergoing drastic climate change, rising sea levels, rainfall irregularities, droughts, and ocean acidification. We need to act now and with urgency, before the effects of climate change become irreversible and cause catastrophic consequences for our already vulnerable food systems.
This unfolding crisis is further heightened by rising food demand.
The world’s population is expected to reach almost 10 billion by 2050, further straining our already burdened natural resources. With food production alone contributing to around 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions, both climate and indirect climate stressors are clear threats to global food security.
More recently, disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic have further exacerbated these challenges, as more countries confront acute food insecurity.
Accelerating Food Growth and Innovation Fast
This emerging crisis is of such importance to the planet the Special Envoy for the UN Food Systems Summit has recently called on global climate leaders to place urgent focus on food systems when it convenes in the forthcoming COP27 in 2022.
While it is encouraging that agriculture and land use are moving up the political agenda, awareness is growing of the link between how and what we produce and consume as well as the impact food systems have on the climate and environment.
To transform our global food systems while advancing sustainability and resilience, we must innovate to break out of current constraints and ensure food security for all. Key to this will be scaling innovative solutions across the food supply chain and the adoption of sustainable business models. As success stories emerge and companies find ways to improve operations and distribute supplies more efficiently, investment in emerging agri-food trends can flourish further.
Temasek sees its capital as a catalyst to help solve this critical challenge and accelerate the green transition. Over the last decade, it has invested
over US$8 billion in the global farm-to-fork value chain.
Financial
Capital
In providing financial capital to stimulate innovation and growth in the agri-food space, Temasek has invested in,
is a crucial and rapidly expanding component of Temasek’s investment portfolio
Agri-food
The Next Wave of Innovation
In November 2021, Temasek partnered with the Economic Development Board, Enterprise Singapore, Singapore Food Agency, and the Singapore Tourism Board, plus event organizers Rethink and Constellar, to launch the inaugural Singapore International Agri-Food Week (SIAW), an annual gathering of global stakeholders from the agri-food industry, to share ideas, showcase new technologies and catalyze innovative solutions.
Sustainable food production needs to be made an urgent global priority.
Temasek has invested over
US$8 Billion in the global farm-to-fork value chain.
Innovative solutions, new technologies and compatible regulatory systems
To dive deep into the changing food consumption habits and trends among Asian consumers, Temasek collaborated with PwC and Rabobank to launch the second edition of the Asia Food Challenge Report (2021). This report highlighted that to meet the demands of increasingly affluent and sophisticated Asian consumers, Asia’s
agri-food sector will require an estimated US$750 billion – this is
on top of existing levels – by 2030.
To this end, Temasek has established the Asia Sustainable Foods Platform to accelerate the commercialization of sustainable foods in Asia. The Platform will provide bespoke solutions, as an enabler, operator and investor, to food-tech companies as they go through their life cycle from product development to commercial scale-up.
The Asia Sustainable Foods Platform and A*STAR’s Singapore Institute of Food & Biotechnology Innovation (SIFBI) have committed to invest over S$30 million in the Food Tech Innovation Centre (FTIC) over the next three years, to provide tailored infrastructure and service offerings to promising food-tech startups. This will provide much-needed pilot scale capabilities for companies to shorten time to market.
The second pillar of Temasek’s decarbonisation strategy involves enabling carbon negative solutions to reduce emissions. An example of this is Climate Impact X (CIX), a global exchange and marketplace for high-quality carbon credits, jointly established by DBS Bank, Singapore Exchange, Standard Chartered and Temasek. Leveraging on satellite monitoring, machine learning and blockchain technology to enhance the transparency, integrity and quality of carbon credits, CIX provides a near term solution for companies to neutralise unavoidable emissions and set them on the path to net zero.
Another example is Canada-based company Svante, which in 2021 raised US$75 million in new financing, led by Temasek, for its efforts to address hard-to-abate emissions from industrial operations such as cement manufacturing, blue hydrogen production and natural gas boilers . Svante’s breakthrough solid sorbent technology allows large-scale capture of CO directly from industrial sources – at half the cost of traditional engineered solutions .
The Asia Sustainable Foods Platform is exploring two joint ventures with global industry experts in plant-based and microbial proteins,
to solve challenges that startups face in setting up large-scale and capital-intensive facilities.
Its partnership with CREMER, a German agri-food multinational, will augment the Platform’s manufacturing capabilities for plant-based protein products, anchored on high moisture extrusion (HME),
a technology for producing texturized proteins that more closely resemble real meat. Companies will then be able to leverage this novel technology to develop and manufacture improved plant-based protein products for consumers.
The Platform has signed an agreement with ADM, a global leader in nutrition, which pave the way to a joint venture that enables contract development and manufacturing services for microbial proteins produced via precision fermentation. This enables smaller existing food-tech companies to efficiently scale their fermentation innovations through to the pilot scale.
”Technology adoption and innovations are key to transforming the sector, advancing sustainability and resilience across the global food system,”
Anuj Maheshwari
Head, Agri-food;
Managing Director, Investment
(Middle East & Africa)
Temasek
While Asia still faces food production challenges, the region is certainly not without hope. The Asia Sustainable Foods Platform shows what is possible. Anuj Maheshwari, Head, Agri-food; Managing Director, Investment (Middle East & Africa), Temasek notes that hard times provide us the creative challenge that could ultimately help us transform our food supply.
“The pandemic has put a spotlight on the resilience of our food and agriculture supply chains. Technology adoption and innovations are key to transforming the sector, advancing sustainability and resilience across the global food system,” he says.
“Innovative solutions, new technologies and compatible regulatory systems are needed to strengthen food safety, security and resilience – not only in Asia, but across the globe,” notes Maheshwari. “That’s why agri-food is a crucial and rapidly expanding component of Temasek’s investment portfolio.”
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1. https://www.ipcc.ch/
2. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-08-09/ipcc-report-human-caused-climate-change-unequivocal
3. https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/SR15_Headline-statements.pdf
4. https://www.temasekreview.com.sg/our-stories/the-race-against-the-clock-to-net-zero.html
5. https://eqtgroup.com/news/2020/eqt-and-temasek-launch-o2-power-a-renewable-energy-platform-in-india
6. https://eqtgroup.com/news/2020/eqt-and-temasek-launch-o2-power-a-renewable-energy-platform-in-india
7. https://svanteinc.com/svante-raises-75-million-to-decarbonize-cement-and-hydrogen-production/
8. https://svanteinc.com/svante-raises-75-million-to-decarbonize-cement-and-hydrogen-production/
9. https://www.ecosperity.sg/
10. https://www.temasek.com.sg/en/news-and-views/news-room/news/2021/temasek-review-2021-bounce-forward
11. https://www.temasekreview.com.sg/our-stories/the-race-against-the-clock-to-net-zero.html
Footnotes
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The second pillar of Temasek’s decarbonisation strategy involves enabling carbon negative solutions to reduce emissions. An example of this is Climate Impact X (CIX), a global exchange and marketplace for high-quality carbon credits, jointly established by DBS Bank, Singapore Exchange, Standard Chartered and Temasek. Leveraging on satellite monitoring, machine learning and blockchain technology to enhance the transparency, integrity and quality of carbon credits, CIX provides a near term solution for companies to neutralise unavoidable emissions and set them on the path to net zero.
Future-Ready Our Food Supply
How Innovative Partnerships Can
*PLACEHOLDER TO INSERT HEAT SPIKE INFOGRAPHICS
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1. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
2. World Resources Institute
3. State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021 Report
4. UN Environment Programme
5. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
6. 2020 World Population Data Sheet, Population Reference Bureau (PRB)
7. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
8. World Bank, Bloomberg, UN
9. Future Directions
10. World Resources Institute
11. World Resources Institute
12. UN Environment Programme
13. United Nations
14. The Good Food Institute
15. Bloomberg
16. WWF
17. Rivulis
18. UN Environment Programme
19. Temasek
In April this year (2021), Temasek combined forces with U.S.-based investment company BlackRock to launch Decarbonization Partners,
a series of late stage venture capital and early growth private equity investment funds focused on accelerating decarbonisation solutions. The funds have a sharp focus on catalysing early-stage growth companies that develop proven next-generation decarbonisation technologies – including emerging fuel sources, grid solutions, battery storage, and electric and autonomous vehicle technologies.
What is more disturbing is that the global Agricultural Commodity Price Index has hit a historic high, with a 30% increase since last January.
The costs of meeting our population’s collective food bill are becoming
a strategic threat.
When we consider the combined impact of climate change, population growth and changing consumption patterns, it becomes clear that it is not sustainable to continue relying on traditional farmlands alone to scale food production. This would be grossly insufficient to meet future demand.
According to a global estimate by the World Resources Institute, feeding 10 billion people could require 56% more food as compared to 2010 levels. When we take into account the current arable land area, this shortfall equates to a 593 million hectare land gap: an area nearly twice the size of India. Despite this looming crisis, 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted each year globally – that is a third of the food produced for consumption.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made the threat of food security more pronounced with disrupted supply chains and rising food prices.
Despite this looming crisis, 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted each year globally – that is a third of the food produced for consumption.
Asia’s 418 million people make up more than half of the world’s hungry mouths.
Temasek responds to these challenges by investing in startups and companies that spur innovation, transforming our food systems to benefit communities and the environment in the long term.
The world’s population is expected to reach almost
rising food demand
of food wastage each year globally - a third of the food produced for consumption.
Food
Wastage
The shortfall equates to a
shortfall on Land Gap
10 Billion by 2050.
593 Million
Hectare Land Gap
1.3 billion tonnes
nearly twice the size of India.
Impossible Foods
A U.S.-based global leader in plant-based protein products.
A Singapore-based producer of plant-based protein products, seeking to integrate upstream into chickpea protein isolation and functionalization.
Growthwell
A Singapore-based plant-based protein startup, which produces a chicken meat substitute called TiNDLE. This product requires 74% less land, uses 82% less water and produces 88% less greenhouse gas emissions than its animal-based alternative.
Next Gen Foods
uses 47-99% less land
uses 72-99% less water
emits 30-90%
less greenhouse Gases
In 2021, Temasek led the US$250 million Series E funding round for
Apeel Sciences, a start-up developing edible plant-based fruit and vegetable coatings, which extend the shelf life of fresh and perishable produce.
To protect the planet by fostering sustainable solutions for its climate, Temasek has also deployed its capital across a range of critical projects. By 2025, two-thirds of the global population will face potential water shortages. To help address this scarcity, Temasek acquired Rivulis, a company that applies smart technology to agricultural micro-irrigation systems, helping farmers around the world manage this finite resource more effectively. Likewise, around
a third of the world’s annual food production is lost or wasted.
By investing in Hazel Technologies, which develops technologies to extend the shelf life of fresh produce, Temasek seeks to allow food importing countries to access fresher ingredients.
Temasek sees its capital as a catalyst to help solve critical challenges.
Plant-based meat production:
2
3
4
7
6
9
8
12
10
11
13
14
Source: The Good Food Institute
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15
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16
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For future generations to survive and prosper, sustainable food production needs to be made an urgent global strategic priority. As a recent report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reminds us, humanity is currently undergoing drastic climate change, rising sea levels, rainfall irregularities, droughts, and ocean acidification. We need to act now and with urgency, before the effects of climate change become irreversible and cause catastrophic consequences for our already vulnerable food systems.
This unfolding crisis is further heightened by rising food demand. The world’s population is expected to reach almost 10 billion by 2050, further straining our already burdened natural resources. With food production alone contributing to around 30% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions , both climate and non-climate stresses are clear threats to global food security.
More recently, disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic have further exacerbated these challenges, as more countries confront acute food insecurity.
5
Sustainable food production needs to be made an urgent global priority.
To feed an estimated 10 billion people by 2050, we will require 56% more food which needs an additional 593 million-hectare of land, an area nearly twice the size of India
Temasek sees the decarbonisation challenge as a powerful opportunity to plot a path towards stability and prosperity – and is placing catalytic investment to address urgent global challenges and reduce emissions
Climate change is threatening Earth’s already fragile food systems. Rising temperatures have adversely impacted crop yield, with a disproportionate effect on the poor. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that crop yield may drop by up to 30% in 2050, due to climate change
1
1
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”Technology adoption and innovations are key to transforming the sector, advancing sustainability and resilience across the global food system,”
Anuj Maheshwari
Managing Director for Investment (Agri-Food), Temasek
In providing financial capital to stimulate innovation and growth in the agri-food space, Temasek has invested in,
Financial
Capital
In November 2021, Temasek partnered with the Economic Development Board, Enterprise Singapore, Singapore Food Agency, and the Singapore Tourism Board, plus event organizers Rethink and Constellar, to launch the inaugural Singapore International Agri-Food Week (SIAW), an annual gathering of global stakeholders from the agri-food industry, to share ideas, showcase new technologies and catalyze innovative solutions.
Innovative solutions, new technologies and compatible regulatory systems
To dive deep into the changing food consumption habits and trends among Asian consumers, Temasek collaborated with PwC and Rabobank to launch the second edition of the Asia Food Challenge Report (2021). This report highlighted that to meet the demands of increasingly affluent and sophisticated Asian consumers, Asia’s agri-food sector will require an estimated US$750 billion – this is on top of existing levels – by 2030.
To this end, Temasek has established the Asia Sustainable Foods Platform to accelerate the commercialization of sustainable foods in Asia. The Platform will provide bespoke solutions, as an enabler, operator and investor, to food-tech companies as they go through their life cycle from product development to commercial scale-up.
The Asia Sustainable Foods Platform and A*STAR’s Singapore Institute of Food & Biotechnology Innovation (SIFBI) have committed to invest over S$30 million in the Food Tech Innovation Centre (FTIC) over the next three years, to provide tailored infrastructure and service offerings to promising food-tech start-ups. This will provide much-needed pilot scale capabilities for companies to shorten time to market.
19
To dive deep into the changing food consumption habits and trends among Asian consumers, Temasek collaborated with PwC and Rabobank to launch the second edition of the Asia Food Challenge Report (2021). This report highlighted that to meet the demands of increasingly affluent and sophisticated Asian consumers, Asia’s agri-food sector will require an estimated US$750 billion – this is on top of existing levels – by 2030.
While Asia still faces food production challenges, the region is certainly not without hope. The Asia Sustainable Foods Platform shows what is possible. Anuj Maheshwari, Temasek’s Managing Director for Investment (Agri-Food), notes that hard times provide us the creative challenge that could ultimately help us transform our food supply.
“The pandemic has put a spotlight on the resilience of our food and agriculture supply chains. Technology adoption and innovations are key to transforming the sector, advancing sustainability and resilience across the global food system,” he says.
“Innovative solutions, new technologies and compatible regulatory systems are needed to strengthen food safety, security and resilience – not only in Asia, but across the globe,” notes Maheshwari. “That’s why agri-food is a crucial and rapidly expanding component of Temasek’s investment portfolio.”
More Articles
in Our Series
Driving Change in a Digital World
READ MORE
Coming soon
Coming soon
Innovating the Future of Consumption
READ MORE
Coming soon
Meeting Society's Needs Amid Longer Lifespans
READ MORE
Coming soon
Investing in Sustainable Solutions
READ MORE
Driving Change in a Digital World
Investing in Sustainable Solutions
1. Singapore International Agri-Food Week (SIAW)
2. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
3. World Resources Institute
4. State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021 Report
5. UN Environment Programme
6. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
7. 2020 World Population Data Sheet, Population Reference Bureau (PRB)
8. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
9. World Bank, Bloomberg, UN
10. Future Directions
11. World Resources Institute
12. World Resources Institute
13. UN Environment Programme
14. United Nations
15. The Good Food Institute
16. Bloomberg
17. WWF
18. Rivulis
19. UN Environment Programme
20. Temasek
Footnotes