REP LIEU LEADS CALL FOR INCREASED SUPPORT AND DEVELOPMENT OF CLIMATE-FORWARD PROTEIN INDUSTRY

WASHINGTON – Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D-Los Angeles County) is leading a bipartisan group of Members in sending letters to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) highlighting the ways in which proteins made using plants, animal cell cultivation, or fermentation (together, "alternative proteins") may be a powerful tool in combatting both hunger and climate change around the world. In the letters, the Members call attention to the benefits of the alternative protein sector and request information on the separate agencies' current use of such proteins and any plans for their implementation in food security and climate programs.

In the letters to USAID, USDA and DOE, the Members:

• Raise their concerns about global food security challenges and highlight the ways in which proteins made using plants, animal cell cultivation, or fermentation that mimic the sensory characteristics of conventional animal proteins (together, ‘‘alternative proteins'') may prove to be a powerful tool in combating both hunger and climate change around the world.
• Request the agencies provide a summary of USAID's and the USDA's current use of alternative proteins in food security and economic development programs and information on any obstacles that might exist to including alternative proteins in the agencies' food security programs.
• Request information on whether USAID and the USDA have conducted any studies related to including alternative proteins in their food security programs and their findings.
• Ask whether the USDA and USAID plan to research the feasibility of including alternative proteins in future global food security strategies.
• Highlight that the alternative protein sector has the potential to deliver 14 to 20 percent of the emissions mitigation that the world needs until 2050 to stay below 1.5°C, a savings of 10 to 14 gigatons of CO2-eq per year.
• Urge the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office (LPO) to assist the alternative proteins industry in continuing to grow.

[READ THE FULL LETTER TO USAID HERE]

[READ THE FULL LETTER TO USDA HERE]

[READ THE FULL LETTER TO DOE HERE]

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