Project description
The challenge of reducing animal protein consumption
Meat and dairy production contribute significantly to climate change and environmental degradation, yet their consumption remains at historically high levels. Changing diets is challenging because meat and dairy consumption are deeply rooted in cultural habits. The industry also plays a powerful role in shaping consumer choices and government policies. However, more attention should be given to how geography influences both production and resistance to change. In this context, the ERC-funded PROTEINSCAPES project investigates how the political geographies of meat and dairy shape the protein paradox. Researchers will analyse production and consumption patterns across Europe, conduct case studies in four countries, and compare political contestation across different regions. This work will help explain why reducing reliance on animal protein remains so challenging.
Objective
Despite the devastating effects of the meat-dairy industry on climate and environment, the production and consumption of animal-based protein is at historically high levels. I refer to this as the protein paradox.
Why are we collectively unable to reduce our reliance on meat and dairy? From the extant literature, we know that changing diet is difficult, especially as the consumption of meat and dairy is culturally normalized in many societies. The literature also reveals that the meat-dairy industry has an outsize influence over consumers and governments. These explanations, however, ignore the uneven geographies of production and consumption, and how they intersect with the political contestation of meat and dairy, entwining with processes of spatial and political polarization.
PROTEINSCAPES thus asks: how can the protein paradox be explained through the political geographies of the production and consumption of animal protein? The research team will pursue: (1) a quantitative study of the protein paradox and landscapes of production and consumption across all EU countries; (2) in-depth qualitative case-study of the politics of consumption in the Czech Republic, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Portugal; and (3) a cross-national comparative study of the role of geography in the political contestation of the transition away from animal protein.
By extending and connecting theory on the geography of transitions and political-spatial polarization to advance a new political geographical approach to study transitions to sustainability, and by advancing the concept of protein landscapes—produced at the intersection of territories, identities and materialities—the project will further our understanding of why the transition away from animal protein is so difficult, the necessary first step in disentangling the wicked problem of the protein paradox.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- agricultural sciences animal and dairy science dairy
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- medical and health sciences health sciences nutrition
- agricultural sciences animal and dairy science domestic animals animal husbandry
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
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(opens in new window) ERC-2023-COG
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1012WX Amsterdam
Netherlands
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