China’s dual carbon goals: Knowing benefits of plant-based diets ‘not enough’ to convince people to eat less meat
China’s dual carbon goals include reaching its carbon emissions peak before 2030 and becoming ‘carbon neutral’ before 2060. To achieve these, the government is looking to change food consumption patterns, including reduced meat consumption.
As President Xi Jinping said in a recent speech, “While protecting the ecology and environment, we should shift our focus from farmland only [and also] exploit biological resources [to] obtain calories and protein from plants, animals, and microorganisms.”
However, to convince people to eat less meat, it is essential to address not only the benefits of plant-based diets but also factors such as lifestyle habits, nutritional concerns, and taste preferences. Barriers like perceived lack of freshness, poor taste, ease of cooking, and affordability play significant roles.
Additionally, education on health and environmental impacts and reducing production costs can help increase acceptance of plant-based alternatives.
A recent study assessing the level of acceptance of plant-based diets in China saw 1,000 respondents from 18 to 60 years old responded to 15 statements about plant-based diets.
The statements covered the benefits for health, environment, animal protection, food security, and taste. Respondents were asked to ‘strongly agree’, ‘agree’, ‘disagree’ or ‘completely disagree’ with each statement.
The researchers found that 98% of respondents were willing to add more plant-based food to their diet after hearing of the benefits, but key barriers related to health, taste preferences, and nutrition still need to be addressed to convince them to eat less meat.
“Unfortunately, 36% of respondents believed that ‘ingredients not being fresh enough’ would put them off buying plant-based food. ‘Not tasty enough’ emerged as the second barrier, with 31% of respondents selecting this answer,” wrote researchers in Plant-based eating in China: Attitudes and Opportunities.
“Third in the ranking of barriers is concern about whether plant-based foods meet the nutritional requirements, with 30% saying that this was an inhibiting factor to change.”
Gen Z attitudes
A separate study assessing Gen Z consumer attitudes towards plant-based diets saw found health, safety, and nutrition to be the top three considerations influencing their decisions.
With Gen-Z members set to make up the core consumer base of the Chinese consumer market of the future, the future of China’s alt-protein sector and the extent to which the country shifts towards sustainable protein consumption will largely depend on the uptake of this generation.
“[Negative] perceptions about plant-based meat among Gen-Z consumers in China include poor taste, unnaturalness, insufficient nutrition, and whether it is safe for consumption,” wrote the researchers in Generation Z’s attitudes towards sustainable protein in China.
“Interestingly, those who have never eaten plant-based meat or do not know about it have more concerns about plant-based meat being fake, unnatural, and not nutritious.”
The top three reasons for not wanting to purchase plant-based meats were poor taste and flavour (17.4%), insufficient nutritional value (12.3%), and that it is not real meat (12.3%).
Nonetheless, there are opportunities for manufacturers of plant-based foods to enhance public education around healthy and sustainable plant-rich diets, along with their nutritional value and the role they have to play in aligning with key government policies, including Healthy China 2030, the ‘30-60’ decarbonisation goal, the ‘No 1 Central Document’ on food security, as well as China’s dietary guidelines.
Convincing people to eat less meat
Health and nutrition were benefits related to plant-based food that Chinese consumers agreed most strongly with - Specifically, 56% of people surveyed agreed that plant-based diets tend to lower body mass index (BMI) and reduce obesity rates, and could lower rates of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
There was higher agreement among 45–60-year olds, with 63% agreeing with this statement.
“In short, the food manufacturers that are targeting the Chinese market should emphasise the health benefits of plant-based alternatives. This is by far the strongest opportunity for increased sales,” said the researchers of the plant-based acceptance study.
Other factors that make people more likely to convert to a plant-based diet include lower price points, certain lifestyle habits, or generally having a high awareness of what constitutes a healthy and environmentally friendly diet.
“Reducing production costs is one of the main challenges for sustainable proteins. It is recommended that plant-based and cultivated-meat manufacturers further optimise their technology so that end prices gradually approach that of conventional meat,” said the researchers of the Gen Z survey.
“This will lead to greater acceptance by consumers and enhance sales.”
