Former vice president and environmental activist Al Gore credited vegan burgers like the Impossible Whopper for helping climate change and greenhouse gases.
Speaking at a Climate Reality lunch event, Gore said “We now have an Impossible Whopper… This is cause for some hope,” according to a Facebook user’s post.
The Nobel Peace Prize recipient is vocal about the impact humanity has on the environment. He is well-known for the 2006 film “An Inconvenient Truth” documenting his campaign to educate on the subject.
Since the documentary, Gore himself turned to a vegan diet. He said in a 2014 interview, “Over a year ago I changed my diet to a vegan diet, really just to experiment to see what it was like.”
Gore recognized the reasons for choosing to make the change, but ultimately for him, it came down to health. He said, “In a visceral way, I felt better, so I’ve continued with it and I’m likely to continue it for the rest of my life.”
Gore co-leads the Climate Reality Project, a group that calls for an urgent switch to renewable energy, along with president and CEO Ken Berlin. According to its website, the organization empowers citizens to become activists in their own lives.
Mainstreaming Vegan Meat
With this latest comment, Gore refers to Burger King’s announcement that the brand will launch the Impossible Whopper. Created in collaboration with Impossible Foods, the chain made the announcement on April Fool’s Day.
The New York Times reported that a national roll-out of the Impossible Whopper would mark the largest of its kind. Despite this, many restaurant chains are also finding success by partnering with vegan meat startups to offer more options to their customers.
Beyond Meat announced recently that it was preparing to launch its IPO, following the success of partnerships with supermarkets such as Tesco and restaurants like Honest Burger.
The launch would also be a first for the vegan meat industry. The brand recently announced it is currently expected to raise up to $183.8 billion and be valued at $1.21 billion.
According to CNBC, “The nearly $30 billion processed meat industry last year grew by 2 percent, while the $1.4 billion meat alternatives industry grew by 22 percent, according to data service Euromonitor.”
It’s not just celebrities such as Bill Gates and Leonardo DiCaprio investing in plant-based alternatives. Big businesses recognize this growth and are investing heavily in the plant-based meat market.
One of America’s largest meat producers Tyson Foods has also invested in Beyond Meat. Tyson initially took a five percent stake in the brand, but came back to increase its investment soon after.
Al Gore continues his work to educate via the Climate Reality Project, and also released a sequel to his original documentary, titled “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power” in 2017.
