Sharing the results of a new product carbon footprint analysis conducted in collaboration with ClimatePartner, BioCraft announced that its proprietary BioCrafted Meat™, produced with animal cell culture, has lower CO₂ emissions compared to conventional beef by-products used in pet food.
BioCraft Pet Nutrition™, a biotech company that develops animal cell-cultured ingredients for the pet food market, has released the results of a new product carbon footprint analysis, conducted in collaboration with ClimatePartner, a solution provider supporting companies on their journey towards net zero. The analysis showed that its proprietary BioCrafted Meat™ emits one-twelfth of the carbon dioxide of conventional beef byproducts used in pet food.
According to the analysis, based on standard EU beef production processes, a hypothetical beef byproduct emits 21.28 kg CO₂ per kilogram—in comparison, BioCrafted Meat produces just 1.73 kg CO₂ per kilogram. The calculation was based on internationally recognized methodologies, including the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (GHG Protocol) and the Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard (PDF), using emission factors from trusted databases such as ecoinvent, Agri-footprint, and DEFRA.
According to the company’s statement, the comparison to byproducts not typically consumed by humans—like offal, bones, blood, and fat—rather than prime beef cuts is significant because the pet food industry, and consumers, often regard these byproducts as sustainable, low-impact alternatives. “However, these byproducts are not emissions-free, and the analysis shows BioCraft ingredients have dramatically less climate impact than not only human-grade beef but also beef byproducts. The emission factor for the beef byproducts applied in the analysis is mass-allocated, meaning that each kilogram of beef has the same emissions, without considering economic value,” the company states.
“The difference in CO₂ emissions between BioCrafted Meat and conventional beef used for pet food is due to our unique production process, which harvests the full contents of the bioreactor, which also makes it quite different from cultivated meat production,” said BioCraft Founder and CEO Dr. Shannon Falconer. “The environmental impacts of raising cattle are caused by the entire animal, not merely the portions used in the human food supply.”
“BioCraft’s approach demonstrates a high level of resource efficiency by maximizing product yield per volume of initial nutrient inputs, which directly contributes to the significantly lower carbon footprint of the ingredient,” noted Jakob Sterlich, CEO of ClimatePartner Austria GmbH. “Such innovations are important steps in reducing the environmental impact of pet food ingredients, such as feed, water use, methane emissions, and land use.”
BioCraft’s emissions were calculated based on its ingredient being produced with mixed sources of energy in Europe, using the Netherlands as a standard. The analysis considers all relevant greenhouse gases such as methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, and perfluorocarbons and calculates their values as CO₂ equivalents. BioCraft has recently received registration to sell cell-cultured pet food ingredients in Europe.
Because BioCraft provides raw ingredients, not finished consumer products, the assessment by ClimatePartner measures “cradle-to-customer plus end-of-life,” including the following lifecycle stages: extraction and pre-processing of raw materials; packaging, production, and delivery of the product to pet food manufacturing companies; and disposal of the product and its packaging at the end of its life. It does not account for emissions during the production of the final consumer product or consumer use.
