New report calls for cellular agriculture industry alignment on impact claims and metrics

• Cellular Agriculture Australia (CAA) is a registered Australian not-for-profit dedicated to advancing the cellular agriculture sector in Australia. Their work is focused on critical challenges and opportunities facing the cellular agriculture sector in Australia. They work with diverse stakeholders including companies, universities, investors, other NFPs, regulators, and government agencies who are engaged or looking to engage with the cellular agriculture sector.
• CAA’s new report “Impact Claims and Metrics: Considerations for the Cellular Agriculture Industry” highlights the importance of clear communication regarding impact, emphasising the necessity of substantiating claims with robust evidence, or otherwise incorporating appropriate qualifying statements. The report posits that effectively managed communication about impact presents an opportunity to build support, trust, and adoption of products.
• The report calls upon companies to consciously consider the measurement, reporting, and communication of their impact and align on an industry-wide approach. Despite a focus on Australia, the report’s findings are relevant to the global cellular agriculture ecosystem.

A new report by Cellular Agriculture Australia (CAA) highlights key considerations for cellular agriculture companies regarding the measurement, reporting, and communication of impact, stressing the need for more robust claims to future-proof the industry.

Cellular agriculture technologies, particularly cell cultivation and precision fermentation, were catalysed by their potential as a suite of ethical and sustainable food production methods. They are poised to contribute to national climate targets and provide a complementary food source, particularly protein, in the face of growing food insecurity globally.

From its inception, the industry has faced pressure to communicate its impact potential to a range of key stakeholders including policymakers, investors, and future consumers. This pressure is compounded by increasing global harmonisation of ESG and impact-related reporting standards, heightened scrutiny and action on greenwashing, and growing competition for funding amid an economic downturn.

“As ESG and impact standards harmonise globally, transparent, evidence-backed claims are essential to safeguarding industry credibility and ensuring long-term success," says Tom Chapman, Sustainability and Impact Advisor, contractor for The Good Food Institute.

The report draws on insights from proximate industries including plant-based protein, sustainable fashion, and electric vehicles. It calls on companies to consciously consider their claims, stressing the importance of clear, credible, and evidence-based communication and managing expectations about the realistic timeframes needed to achieve tangible impact.

Impact claims should be substantiated through an appropriate evidence base using relevant and verifiable metrics. In the absence of verifiable data, CAA recommends using qualifying terms like “potentially” or “could” to indicate that the claims are aspirational and pending substantiation.

Companies are encouraged to prioritise and integrate impact considerations into their strategic and operational processes from the outset, whilst exercising caution when data is limited and processes are untested at scale.

Targeted primarily at industry leaders, the report offers valuable insights for companies working to commercialise cellular agriculture products such as cultivated meat and precision-fermented ingredients. While the report primarily focuses on Australia, its findings have global relevance.

Concluding with a call to action, the report encourages Australian industry stakeholders to collaborate on prioritising the most important impact areas, claims, and metrics. CAA believes that early collaboration will deliver efficiencies and result in the consistency required to build support, trust, and adoption of cellular agriculture products.

Over the coming months, CAA plans to engage with the Australian sector, starting with a workshop titled ‘Cultivating accountability – evidence gaps in cellular agriculture’ in partnership with Food Frontier at Alt Proteins 24.

Download the full report here: http://www.cellularagricultureaustralia.org/publications/impact-claims-and-metrics