Thread by @aleph2020

THREAD 2 -LARGE INVESTORS

The #vegan option promises a new market horizon to a corporate system in need of expansion. In addition to novel product lines developed by transnational companies, business operations are launched as ambitious tech #startups.

greenqueen.com.hk/meet-the-10-ne…

#SiliconValley & other large investors are attracted in support of a model that will activate supply chains, market speculations, & trade wars over what are expected to be the resources of the future.

dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ar…

Financial #speculation has become key to overcome the stagnation tendencies of global markets. Global money management can be narrowed down to some 17 financial giants, collectively managing >$40 trillion in a self-invested network of interlocking capital.

This evolution is bound to come with geopolitical implications related to resource control & international trade, triggering interest of global power centers (e.g. @CFR_org). For instance, most of what goes into vegan burgers is now produced by #China. newsweek.com/against-grain-…

Many wish to conquer that same space. The Canadian company Verdient is intending to become North America's largest organic pea protein plant. perspective.ca/producer-lenti…

As an aside, one of the investors in Verdient is James Cameron, who is also the producer of the pro-vegan movie '#TheGameChangers' (2018), adding to the noise. businesswire.com/news/home/2017…

From a similar perspective, #land is a crucial resource. >$90 billion has been invested in 78 countries for buying up >74 million acres of farmland in the last decade, leading to mass corporate farming for export, to the detriment of indigenous farmers. penguinrandomhouse.com/books/579727/g…

Besides the Future of Food, the big players are interested in #climatechange investing, i.e. the financialization & commodification of natural resources, using narratives of 'carbon credits', 'conservation', 'afforestation' & 'protected areas'. nodealfornature.wixsite.com/english

The latter brings us to the recurrent slogan that cattle takes up "too much land".

Are cows standing in the way of the #GreatFoodTransformation and the #NewDealForNature?

livekindly.co/global-land-us…

Predictions that refer to the #collapse of animal agriculture are aggressively pushed by consulting firms [e.g., @kearney 2020] to generate interest from large investors, many of which also have an ideological agenda. kearney.com/consumer-retai…

The usual suspects are keen on entering the arena, not only including Bill Gates & Richard Branson, but also companies within BigMeat such as Tyson & Cargill.

cnbc.com/2018/03/23/bil…

FAIRR is an investor company of which the membership & wider supporting network comprises institutional investors managing $25 trillion in combined assets. It was founded in 2015 by Jeremy Coller, who is a vegan and wishes to 'end factory farming'. livekindly.co/private-equity…

Coller also has a seat on the advisory board of the Good Food Institute, a well-connected lobby group for 'plant-based' startups & vegan agendas. gfi.org/our-team

On that same advisory board, we also find the Saudi prince Khaled bin Alwaleed (son of Saudi Arabia's top investor, prince Alwaleed bin Talal). He is the founder/CEO of KBW Ventures/Investments and a funder of vegan tech companies. cnbc.com/2020/02/11/pri…

In 2020, KBW Ventures invested in the largest funding moment ($161 million) in the history of the cell-based meat industry, together with Richard Branson, Bill Gates, & others.

arabianbusiness.com/retail/438333-…

When financial opportunities & ideology meet: the prince has referred to dairy as the 'root of environmental evil'. arabianbusiness.com/culture-societ…

He is a known enthusiast of the #GreatFoodTransformation. In 2018, he met with EAT's founder & several 'vegan leaders' with ties to the Good Food Institute at the UN Headquarters to discuss 'Next Generation Solutions for a World in Transition' livekindly.co/vegan-politica…

On EAT's Advisory Board, we find a director of @blackrock, the world's largest shadow bank, with >$5 trillion assets under management, directly influencing investment strategy for $15 trillion. This sheds an interesting light on the #FoodCanFixIt concept. eatforum.org/people/advisor…

Also on EAT's Advisory Board, founder of @RethinkX, which analyzes & forecasts technology-driven market disruptions. With the usual hyperbole, it claims that 'precision fermentation protein' will bring the meat & dairy industries to '#collapse' by #2030. rethinkx.com/press-release/…

The "collapse" narrative is a frequent one within the larger network of the #GreatFoodTransformation. "Death spiral" is another one.

Such radical change requires social engineering. Strategies have been developed by WRI. Note that latter's Board of Directors is dominated by representatives from Big Finance. Its co-chair is David Blood, former Asset Management director of @GoldmanSachs. wri.org/about/board

Together with Al Gore (ex-WRI Board), Blood founded Generation Investment Management in 2004. Gore's climate groups have invested $200 million in Beyond Meat, while a shift to meat alternatives is promoted by organizations to which he is connected. cnsnews.com/commentary/mar…

General Investment is also aligned with @kleinerperkins, which is one of Beyond Meat's largest investors & has Al Gore as a partner and advisor. bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2…

Back to the main article:

https://twitter.com/aleph2020/status/1351114305496879104