Can lab-grown milk solve dairy’s climate problem?

Traditional dairy products have faced stiff competition from plant-based alternatives in recent years. Now, there's another option on the table: lab-grown milk. Made from microbes in large fermenters, lab-grown dairy is an animal-free product that promises to significantly cut down on the greenhouse gas emissions created by cows and other animals, while providing the same taste and texture as beloved animal dairy products from ice cream to cheese and yogurt. We visited Remilk, a company in Tel Aviv, Israel, to find out how lab-grown dairy is made, and how far can it go toward solving dairy’s climate change problem.

00:00 Introduction
00:48 Dairy’s climate problem
01:25 The rise of lab-grown dairy
02:27 Lab-grown’s environmental promise
02:58 How lab-grown dairy is made
03:49 Is it actually more eco-friendly?
05:13 The future of lab-grown dairy

This is Lab-Made, a series about the burgeoning lab-grown industry that’s challenging the way we think about food – from milk, to meat to chocolate.

—

We make short documentaries, explainers and original series for people who care about the world’s biggest challenges. Context is anchored around three of the most significant and interdependent issues of our time: climate change, the impact of technology on society and inclusive economies. We contextualize how critical issues and events affect ordinary people, society and the environment.

Context is a media platform brought to you by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the corporate foundation of Thomson Reuters, the global news and information services company. Through journalism, media development, free legal assistance, and convening initiatives, we combine our unique services to drive systemic change.

[Peaceable]

newculture is going to launch lab grown cheese next year, perhaps even this year at certain pizzaerias

[ramdas]

Ignoring all the additional issues connected to intensive animal "farming", it's simply the morally right thing to do not to keep living being locked up in concentration camps until their death just because we like the taste of their flesh.
How is this even up to discussion? Feels like living in a society of sociopaths who could not care less about the suffering.

[jaygoldman]

Interesting piece. Thanks! Respectfully, you greatly understated the deleterious effects of land use from livestock farming. The destruction of our ecosystems poses the greatest threat to life on earth. Ceasing livestock farming enables humans to return forests, wetlands, and savannas to their natural states. This in turn promotes the return of wildlife, healthy soils, natural water retention, carbon capture, and the overall ability for the planet to remain in ecological balance conducive to life on earth.