ProVeg Highlights: 2022 #1 Spring Edition

2022 #1 spring edition

ProVeg Highlights Recent progress made possible by you!

Our vision is a world where everyone chooses delicious and healthy food that is good for all humans, animals, and our planet.

In this edition 1. Eight pioneering food-tech startups are now ready to shake things up! Plus, updates on our thriving alumni 2. V-Label spreads awareness across the globe through our new partners and plant-based Food Heroes 3. More than 2 million meals in UK schools switched from meat-based to meat-free or plant-based!

4. The Veggie Challenge – coming soon for teams and businesses!

5. ProVeg puts plant-based eating on the agenda at United Nations Environmental Assembly 6. ProVeg Netherlands’ latest study: one in four consumers want a meat-free future 7. ProVeg Grants makes waves in Africa and welcomes new grantees!

8. Moving the needle in changing national dietary guidelines across the globe!

9. Hugely successful Veganuary in South Africa!

10. Our work all over the world, as reported by the media

ProVeg’s five action areas Advancing plant-based and cultured-food innovation

innovation

We accelerate, incubate, & amplify.

Institutional and corporate engagement

Policy and advocacy

Movementbuilding

Public education and media

We campaign, influence, & consult.

We advocate, inform, & persuade.

We empower, collaborate, & build strong networks.

We educate, engage, & mentor.

ProVeg’s five action areas Advancing plant-based and cultured-food innovation i

Institutional and corporate engagement

Policy and advocacy

Movementbuilding

Public education and media

Advancing plant-based and cultured-food innovation We support and connect startups and global partners in advancing plant-based and cultured-food innovation

Eight pioneering food-tech startups are now ready to shake things up! Plus, updates on our thriving alumni

$1.5m raised

ProVeg Incubator’s seventh cohort of startups is ready to take on new challenges in the business world after graduating from the latest edition of our accelerator program! Eight disruptive startups from Japan, Estonia, and India have completed 12 successful weeks of training and mentorship, including workshops, fireside chats, and countless meetings with investors and industry leaders. This cohort included startups such as Umami United, Cultivated Biosciences, and ProProtein.

Our alumni have been making global headlines. Omni raised $1.5 million in funding for its plant-powered pet food, while the Live Green Co closed a $7-million funding round and is relocating from Chile to Boston. Finally, Bosque Foods (formerly Kinoko Labs) unveiled its mycelium-based meat for the first time in Europe at the ProVeg Incubator. Investors from Purple Orange Ventures, Unovis, Astanor Ventures, Food Labs, Big Idea Ventures, and Be8 were treated to alt-pork and alt-chicken fillets during the exclusive tasting.

We can’t wait to see what our growing number of alumni have in store for the future!

$7m

funding round

Institutional and corporate engagement We influence and support businesses, decision-makers, and institutions in developing, providing, and promoting healthy, compassionate, and sustainable plant-based options

V-Label spreads awareness across the globe The V-Label teams in Germany, South Africa, and Czechia have been making substantial headway in creating partnerships – from the agreement with Burger King (the first restaurant chain the label has partnered with in licensing plant-based products in Germany and South Africa) to strengthening its efforts to license non-food items such as cosmetics and beauty products. The collaboration between ProVeg and V-Label has been so successful that 30% of all V-Label-certified vegan and vegetarian products worldwide, as well as 40% of all V-Label-certified companies, were certified by ProVeg. In addition, the team started a series of virtual events for partners to discuss marketing techniques, insights, and best practices featuring leading experts.

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More than 2 million meals in UK schools switched from meat-based to meat-free or plant-based!

ProVeg UK’s School Plates program is making school food healthier and more sustainable. ProVeg is currently working with local authorities that cater to over 2,500 schools in England and Wales to increase the quality and quantity of plant-based meals in schools. So far, this has resulted in more than 2 million meals being switched from meat-based to meat-free or plant-based in 2021.

Over 2m meals

switched from meat-based to plant-based in 2021

ProVeg UK has also published two free resources that are helping partners to make small changes to their menus. The Guide summarizes the why and how of the program, while The Recipes is a collection of 35 plant-based recipes designed specifically for schools. The Recipes, which is the first plant-based recipe book for primary schools in the UK, addresses a very important gap for school caterers and is now being used by several School Plates partners.

We are very excited to see our School Plates team making such an impact through your generous support and can’t wait to see how many more schools they’ll be able to support in the future!

35

specifically designed recipes

The Veggie Challenge – coming soon for teams and businesses!

The Veggie Challenge is now being made available for organizations and departments – in the form of Veggie Challenge Teams! The project was piloted in the Netherlands with three participating companies and aims to create a fun way for companies to work on their sustainability goals. Currently in its testing stage, more than 500 individuals recently took part in the challenge, using the app’s exciting new functionality to share activities and events with each other, showing the progress of each organization, and creating a sense of community between users.

Moreover, more and more partners are getting on board with the Veggie Challenge. In Czechia, Lidl, one of Europe’s biggest discount chains, promoted the Veggie Challenge on their website and in-store.

Along with partners such as Garden Gourmet and Violife, they encouraged around 9,000 people to take part in the challenge in just January alone, contributing toward a global total of 35,000 signups so far this year. In Poland, Alpro and Garden Gourmet have also recently become partners of the Veggie Challenge, with the latter participating in Veggie Challenge Teams.

The Veggie Challenge continues to amaze us with its growing engagement – all thanks to your continued support! We are very optimistic that Veggie Challenge Teams will achieve a great deal more in 2022, with plans to include smaller groups such as family, friends, and school groups.

Policy and advocacy We work with governmental and intergovernmental agencies, NGOs, and researchers to create plant-forward policies and practices

ProVeg puts plant-based eating on the agenda at UNEA 5.2 In February, ProVeg took part in the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) in Nairobi, Kenya, engaging with policymakers, NGOs, and other partners. Our team, led by Raphael Podselver, Head of UN Advocacy at ProVeg, rallied 154 NGOs to sign a letter asking the UN Environment Programme to take a stronger lead in promoting less resource-intensive diets, particularly following the commitments made at COP26 regarding methane and deforestation. UNEA also adopted the resolution on the nexus between animal welfare and the environment, which ProVeg and its partners lobbied for extensively.

Following the letter, ProVeg, along with other NGOs, sat down with UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen in a forum and discussed the necessity of tackling food systems with a shift towards more plant-based diets, and how such an approach should be at the center of future environment and climate discussions. After the forum, Raphael Podselver and allies from civil society engaged in a more extensive discussion with top UNEP representatives in a two-hour meeting.

Photo by IISD/ENB Kiara Worth

ProVeg Netherlands’ latest study: one in four consumers want a meat-free future In a study commissioned by ProVeg Netherlands, research group Kieskompas spoke to more than 8,500 Dutch people in order to understand evolving Dutch consumer attitudes towards animal agriculture.

According to the survey, 72% of those surveyed believe that people should eat fewer animals, with most respondents being motivated mainly by a desire to reduce animal suffering. A majority of Dutch consumers also support a ban on factory farming, with a further 13% supporting the prohibition of all livestock farming. Moreover, 42% supported the statement that animals should not be used as food. This is particularly interesting, considering that only 1.4% of those surveyed are vegan.

The survey shows a lot of promise for plant-based advocacy and producers of plant-based alternatives. Although meat consumption in the Netherlands remains steady, the study shows the potential willingness of populations to transition and change their diet.

You can download the full report here in Dutch, or read about it in English here.

28% of the Dutch population hopes for a future without meat

Movement-building We build strong, collaborative networks by empowering and supporting other NGOs, alliances, advocacy groups, and communities.

ProVeg Grants makes waves in Africa and welcomes new grantees!

ProVeg’s Africa Accelerator program now has 103 members from 23 countries! The members, 41% of which are women, have shown remarkable progress and show no signs of slowing down, with plans to launch 17 new plant-based groups in the near future.

ProVeg Grants has also welcomed 21 new grantees from 16 countries around the world. Grants will be used to launch Lithuania’s only 100% diet-change organization, launch plant-based campaigns in Cameroon, the DRC, and the Gambia, and expand Vietnam’s and Malaysia’s largest plant-based advocacy groups. Grants will also be used to implement plant-based lunch days in Thai schools, with the aim of reducing animal consumption by tens of thousands of meals each week.

With so much progress being made by our grantees (all made possible by you!), it’s no surprise that the plant-based movement is continuing to achieve new heights around the world.

Revising national dietary guidelines across the globe!

Our new Dietary Guidelines Initiative has made significant progress in recent months. The project is a pioneering initiative from ProVeg that aims to review and revise existing dietary guidelines around the world to reflect the most recent developments in health and climate science.

With your generous support, our research team has already evaluated 95 National Dietary Guidelines, representing the positions of 100 countries. The results are reflected in a research paper, which shows the extent to which food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG) encourage healthy and sustainable food choices. Furthermore, it is now the first and most comprehensive global cross-analysis of FBDGs focused on positions towards vegetarian diets (including vegan diets).

Our progress has underscored the importance of this program and helped us to identify the areas of highest unmet need. The paper has now successfully entered the peer review process, and we are building a coalition of expert supporters.

Thank you for being a leader in the movement to transform dietary guidelines around the globe. Watch this space for further developments.

Public education and media We provide inspiration and support to reduce and eliminate animal-based products from people’s diets

Hugely successful Veganuary in South Africa!

ProVeg South Africa kicked off 2022 with a hugely successful Veganuary!

The team partnered with some of the biggest names in the plant-based sphere, including South African vegan influencer Garth Tavares and The Kind Kitchen creator and chef Jay McNamara as well as eight vegan restaurants and the Fry Family Food Company, a family-owned manufacturer of plant-based meat substitutes.

44

new plant-based products

98

plant-based menu items

For the entire month, the team and volunteers hosted ticket sales for nine events across the country in which the public were invited to come together and enjoy a variety of plant-based food. During the period, ProVeg South Africa facilitated the launch of 44 new plant-based products, 98 plant-based menu items and two new fully vegan restaurants. Moreover, the team generated 70% of the country’s total Veganuary sign-ups.

Every year, Veganuary inspires millions of people to try a plant-based lifestyle. With the continued success of our ProVeg South Africa team promoting the event, we expect more and more people in the region to shift to a plant-based diet, creating a huge opportunity for the food industry to tap into this growing sector.

70%

of the country’s total Veganuary sign-ups

2

new fully vegan restaurants

Our work all over the world, as reported by the media With the help of generous supporters like you, ProVeg International was featured in more than 720 publications around the world during the last three months. ● ProVeg was named by Food Tank as one of the top organizations transforming the global food system for 2022. ● ProVeg International Director Jens Tuider was interviewed by prominent German media outlets, Berliner Rundfunk and RBB24, and engaged in a debate with a dairy lobbyist in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a leading national newspaper popular with decision-makers. ● A spokesperson for ProVeg Czechia was interviewed about the Veggie Challenge on national television. ● ProVeg Founding President Sebastian Joy was quoted by Welt am Sonntag, a German national Sunday newspaper, in an article titled ‘Vegan Life’. ● Experts from our V-Label team were interviewed by prominent German channel ZDF. ● ProVeg Spain was interviewed on the regional TV news channel CanalSur about our campaign to stop the EU’s promotion of meat and dairy. ● Our Smart Protein Consumer Study also received a great deal of media attention, including from the Brussels Times, Food Navigator, and The Guardian. ● ProVeg Head of Food Industry and Retail, Stephanie Jaczniakowska-McGirr, was quoted in a number of articles by Yahoo News, Unilad, and The Guardian. ● The ProVeg Netherlands report on consumer attitudes was featured in Food Navigator. ● Vice President Jasmijn de Boo was quoted in the Brussels Morning regarding a possible veggie burger ban in Belgium.

Thank you for changing the world!

We hope you enjoyed the spring edition of the ProVeg Highlights, showcasing your giving in action.

Do you have any questions? Would you like to learn more? Please contact giving@proveg.com

Want to learn more: Sebastian Joy Founder and President

Jasmijn de Boo Vice President

Your

team

- Previous ProVeg Highlights - Annual Review 2021 - Our general Strategic Approach