Study: Animal-Free Milk Generates 96% Fewer Emissions Than Dairy

A life-cycle assessment (LCA) has concluded that Bon Vivant‘s animal-free milk uses significantly fewer natural resources than cow’s milk and has a much smaller environmental footprint.

The milk is made with animal-free whey and casein, which are produced using precision fermentation. The LCA, performed by an independent third party, compared one litre of this animal-free milk to an equivalent amount of dairy milk that had the same amount of protein.

The results show that Bon Vivant’s milk generates 96% fewer emissions than cow’s milk, while using 99% less water, 92% less land, and 50% less energy. According to Bon Vivant, the dairy sector is responsible for 2.7% of global greenhouse gas emissions — more than aviation. Consequently, a shift to animal-free dairy could have huge environmental implications.

The company claims that if just 5% of the milk produced in Europe was replaced with animal-free dairy, it would save the equivalent of the amount of electricity used by Paris in 20 years, along with 2.3 million Olympic swimming pools of water and the amount of fuel required to travel around the world 660,000 times.

Scaling up

Based in Lyon, France, Bon Vivant was founded in late 2021 by agricultural engineer Hélène Briand and businessman Stéphane Mac Millan. Last year, the company raised €4 million from investors including Alliance for Impact, High Flyers Capital, and Kima Ventures.

In June of this year, Bon Vivant announced a strategic partnership with European biotech leader Abolisto to produce precision fermentation-based animal-free dairy products on an industrial scale. The companies also plan to offer animal-free dairy proteins to the conventional dairy industry.

“Our partnership was born out of the desire to offer, on a large scale, healthy dairy products with organoleptic and nutritional qualities identical to those produced by animals and accessible, whose development must be environmentally friendly. We are pleased to join forces to meet a global need: to feed a growing population, while producing in a sustainable way,” said Briand.

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