An international consortium backed by major foundations is working to turn CO2 into food by replacing sugar with acetate in fermentation, aiming to cut land use and boost food security.
A consortium of pioneers
The Acetate Consortium Initiative is an international alliance of research institutes and private companies committed to a revolutionary goal: turning CO2 into food for people.
Sustainable food according to the Acetate Consortium Initiative
What might sound like an impossible idea is now in full experimentation, supported by significant funding from the Gates Foundation and the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
The initiative has been extended for another two years with an additional €21.7 million budget. Its vision is to replace sugar in fermentation processes with acetate derived from CO2. The ultimate goal is to mitigate climate change, eliminate farmland use for crops, and reduce food insecurity at the same time.
Through natural processes that do not require agricultural land, the consortium aims to achieve nutrient-rich food production that is also economically viable.
Results and prospects of the Acetate Consortium Initiative
In its first phase, the group studied the development and scalability of the technology platform that converts CO2 into acetate for fermenting cells and proteins.
Microbial strains have been successfully developed to ferment with 100% acetate, without adding sugar, reducing the need for land and water. Industrial fermentation typically requires refined sugar to feed bacteria. By eliminating sugar, there is no need to cultivate it.
In the second phase, the consortium is broadening its scope. It will focus on optimizing and scaling technologies and methods, as well as developing and testing food prototypes. This stage will also assess the technical, economic, and environmental impact.
New partners are joining, bringing expertise from food science to socio-economic modeling and consumer behavior research.
Denmark and gastronomic experimentation
Denmark has a unique culture of gastronomic experimentation, connecting research, industry, science, and technology.
Among the new participants is Spora, a multidisciplinary food research center dedicated to tackling systemic challenges and reshaping the world through gastronomy. Spora was created by Rasmus Munk, the visionary behind Copenhagen’s two-star Michelin restaurant “Alchemist,” known for its multisensory dining experiences that blend political and environmental activism.
“We need solutions to feed more people without putting pressure on natural resources and to enable food production in areas with little or no farmland.
When the consortium began its work two years ago, making food from CO2 sounded like science fiction. Within the next two years, we may see the first food prototypes tested by consumers,” said Claus Felby, Vice President Agri-Food at the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
