The Project X mission is to radically transform the sustainability performance of 10 industry value chains most responsible for biodiversity decline and climate change impacts in the next 10 years. Their name comes from the Roman numeral ‘X’, meaning ten, and the ultimate goal of every programme is to get 10 per cent of global industry to procure alternative sustainable solutions at scale.
Via its food programme, EIT Climate-KIC is co-funding a pilot project, Feed-X, which will source and scale alternative feed ingredients for aquaculture in a bid to shift 10 per cent of the global feed industry towards even more sustainable production.
As one of the world’s most efficient protein generators, there is increasing focus on aquaculture to provide the protein to feed the world as the global population continues to grow. According to the FAO, it continues to grow faster than any other major food sector and is expected to provide 60 per cent of the fish available for human consumption by 2030.
Feed-X aims to remove the barriers to more affordable and sustainable food production in the global feed industry by 2025, by sourcing, testing, financing and scaling alternative feed ingredients. Initially, the programme will focus on salmon and shrimp as two aquaculture species with wholly different feed requirements and industry structures to cater to.
Feed-X will aim to reduce the environmental impacts of feed ingredient production by focusing on current raw materials:
Feed-X is working collaboratively with one of the largest animal and aquaculture feed suppliers in the world, Nutreco, primarily it’s aquaculture division Skretting which represents over a third of the global aquaculture feed market and £4.5bn of purchasing power. Financial support for the Feed-X programme is also coming from EIT Climate-KIC, WWF-UK, WWF-NL and a global retail brand.
Speaking ahead of a key partner meeting in meeting in Utrecht on 23 October, Catherine Laurent-Polz, Portfolio Manager, Sustainable Land Use at EIT Climate-KIC said, “The aim of Feed-X is to be a convener, using the ‘pull’ of advanced market commitment to support whole industry value chains to align and accelerate the adoption of sustainable innovations at scale, providing innovators with access to market.”
For more information on Feed-X see: https://projectxglobal.com/our-pilots/
