Beyond Investing

27/08/2026

Some news is worth celebrating.

Nueva Pescanova has withdrawn its plans to build what would have been the world's first commercial octopus farm in the Canary Islands.

This marks an important moment for animal welfare and ocean conservation, and reflects years of work by scientists, NGOs, legal experts, campaigners, and many others who challenged the industrial farming of one of the world's most intelligent and sentient animals.

At Beyond Impact, we believe the future of food lies in technologies and business models that reduce pressure on animals and the environment while strengthening food system resilience. Progress like this reinforces the importance of investing in sustainable alternatives that can meet global demand without expanding intensive animal farming into new species.

Meaningful change rarely happens overnight. It is built through evidence, collaboration, innovation, and persistence.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260731-spains-attempt-to-farm-octopuses-has-failed

Congratulations to everyone whose dedication helped make this outcome possible.

Plans for the world's first octopus farm have been abandoned. As the controversial project folds, several nations and US states are banning octopus farming before it even begins.

26/08/2026

The US Vegan Climate ETF (VEGN) has delivered an annualised return of 19.87% against the S&P 500's 16.28% over seven years, based on NAV to 30 June 2026. 📈

As Beyond Investing’s CEO Claire Smith explains: "The way we construct the index is that we screen out anything harmful to animals and the environment, particularly focusing on fossil fuels, human rights, single use plastic and weapons and if you take all of that out, you end up with a portfolio which is higher in other sectors."

And there's more to come. Beyond Investing is set to launch an international version of the fund in September, listed on CBOE and benchmarked to the MSCI World ex-US – designed to complement VEGN and give investors a complete global equity portfolio built entirely around their values.

Claire believes “these two funds are highly complementary to each other with no risk of portfolio replication because the international version screens out US stocks." 🌱

Focus on climate change and avoidance of companies which are involved in the slaughter of, cruelty towards or other mistreatment of animals, lies behind Beyond Investing’s US Vegan Climate ETF – VEGN.

25/08/2026

Humanity depends on a stable natural world, yet we are pushing beyond the ecological limits that make it possible.

The Stockholm Resilience Centre identifies nine planetary boundaries within which humanity can safely operate. Six have already been crossed:

• Climate change
• Biosphere integrity
• Land-system change
• Freshwater use
• Nitrogen and phosphorus flows
• Novel entities, including chemicals, plastics, and antibiotics

Agriculture and food production are major drivers across many of these breaches.

Livestock farming contributes heavily to deforestation and land-use change. Beef production places enormous pressure on freshwater resources. Methane from ruminants accelerates warming, while fertiliser runoff and animal waste drive pollution and ecosystem damage.

The food system is also closely linked to antimicrobial resistance, with a significant share of global antibiotic use occurring in livestock production.

As demand for meat and dairy continues to grow, the pressure on land, water, climate, and biodiversity will intensify unless production systems change.

The scale of the challenge is clear. So is the need to invest in alternatives that are more efficient, resilient, and compatible with planetary limits.

📖 Read the full Ingredients for a Sustainable Future white paper here: https://beyondimpact.hubspotpagebuilder.com/-ingredients-for-a-sustainable-future

24/08/2026

You read every ingredient label. You check for animal testing. But when did you last look at the holdings of your investment portfolio? 🌍

Animal agriculture, fossil fuels, and other harmful industries are all quietly funded by the index funds most people invest in. When we have a choice, why would we ever consider putting our money towards cruelty and destruction?

Beyond Investing CEO Claire Smith joined the Hope for the Animals Podcast to talk about exactly this – why she created the US and Europe Vegan Climate Indexes, how the US Vegan Climate ETF (VEGN) has outperformed the S&P 500 since inception, and why divesting from harmful companies isn't just an ethical choice, it puts real financial pressure on those companies too.

The ingredient list of your portfolio matters as much as the one on your food. 🌱 Make sure your money is funding a better world for humanity.

Have a listen:

Spread the Love

21/08/2026

Congratulations to Beyond Impact portfolio company The EVERY Company on its new strategic partnership with ADM to bring commercial-scale production of precision-fermented egg-white protein to the United States.

Under the agreement, ADM will manufacture OvoPro™ at its facility in Iowa, combining its world-class fermentation infrastructure with EVERY's patented protein production technology.

The expansion, expected to come online in 2027, follows EVERY's recent increase in manufacturing capacity in Europe and marks another important step towards scaling precision fermentation globally.

OvoPro™ delivers the functional properties of conventional egg whites, including binding, foaming, whipping, and gelling, while offering food manufacturers a more resilient and reliable protein supply.

Partnerships like this demonstrate how the alternative protein sector is continuing to mature, bringing together innovative technology developers and established manufacturing leaders to accelerate commercial adoption.

Congratulations to the teams at The EVERY Company and ADM on this exciting milestone.

SynBioBeta

19/08/2026

Congratulations to Beyond Impact portfolio companies BlueNalu and Mosa Meat on being recognised in TIME and Statista's World's Top GreenTech Companies of 2026.

BlueNalu has been recognised for its work advancing cultivated seafood to help build more resilient seafood supply chains, expand consumer choice, and support long-term ocean health.

Mosa Meat, recognised in the FoodTech category for its pioneering work in cultivated beef, helping reshape the food system with solutions that are better for people, animals, and the planet.

Recognition from TIME reflects the growing importance of technologies that can decouple food production from environmental impact while strengthening resilience across global supply chains.

We're proud to support companies that are demonstrating how innovation can help build a cleaner, more sustainable future.

Congratulations to the teams at BlueNalu, Mosa Meat, and all the GreenTech pioneers recognised this year.

13/08/2026

Food is far more than sustenance.

It is one of the most powerful systems humanity controls, shaping how land, water, and energy are used, how economies function, and how societies develop.

Yet today’s global food system remains deeply unsustainable:

• It generates up to 34% of global greenhouse gas emissions
• It uses 90% of freshwater withdrawals
• It occupies 43% of the planet’s ice-free and desert-free land
• Around 80% of agricultural land is used for livestock and feed, while providing less than 20% of human calories
• It still leaves hundreds of millions hungry, while one-third of all food is wasted

The scale of the challenge is enormous, but so is the opportunity.

By shifting towards plant-based and microorganism-based production systems, we can reduce emissions, free up land for nature, lower water use, and restore ecosystems at scale.

Food cannot be phased out. It must be reinvented.

In short, if we fix food, we fix the future.

📖 Read the full Ingredients for a Sustainable Future white paper here: https://beyondimpact.hubspotpagebuilder.com/-ingredients-for-a-sustainable-future

11/08/2026

Every quarter, we look at what drove VEGN's outperformance, and every quarter, the answer comes back to the same thing: intentional, values-driven exclusions.

In the second quarter, excluding captive animals was the single biggest contributor at 11.10% of excess return, followed closely by other environmental exclusions at 9.38% and to***co at 9.25%. Excluding animal testing contributed 10.54% – proof that the vegan screen isn't just an ethical choice, it's a financially meaningful one.

This is what mission-aligned investing looks like: every exclusion is both an ethical choice and a financial one. 🌱 Please see veganetf.com for important disclosures and standardized performance information.

Attribution identifies the sources of the excess return of a portfolio against its benchmark by calculating the effect of each active decision on the differential in performance, these decisions being presented as percentages of the total excess return.

10/08/2026

"Sometimes a sector moves faster than expected."

A new analysis from Arthur D. Little, led by Clement Santander and his team, revisits the economics of cell-cultivated proteins and reaches an important conclusion: production costs below €10 per kilogram are now increasingly a question of when, rather than whether.

Beyond Impact portfolio company PARIMA (creators of Gourmey), is featured as one of the case studies.

The report highlights how the foundations of commercially viable production are already falling into place:

• Lower-cost, protein-free growth media
• Higher yields at industrial scale
• Repeatable continuous and semi-continuous bioprocesses
• Capital-light access to production through specialist partners

Together, these advances are reshaping the economics of cultivated protein production.

The next phase will depend less on scientific breakthroughs and more on ex*****on across the value chain. That includes building consumer demand, securing offtake, delivering quality at the right price, and creating faster, more predictable regulatory pathways to market.

There is no guaranteed green premium. Commercial success will come from products that offer real value to consumers while meeting rigorous standards for safety, quality, and performance.

Congratulations to the entire PARIMA team for continuing to push the sector forward and showing that cultivated proteins are moving steadily towards commercial reality.

06/08/2026

A major milestone for Beyond Impact portfolio company PARIMA, creators of GOURMEY.

PARIMA has successfully achieved multi-tonne-scale production of cultivated duck in a single 22,000-litre run, working alongside Vow on what is currently the world's largest cultivated meat production line.

For years, one of the biggest questions surrounding cultivated meat has been whether it could be produced at industrial scale and at commercially viable costs. This achievement demonstrates just how far the sector has progressed.

By combining high-performing cell lines, low-cost protein-free growth media and a robust production process that maintained performance at 22,000 litres, PARIMA has shown that the foundations for commercial-scale cultivated meat are now in place.

As the cultivated food industry matures, companies are increasingly able to focus on what they do best while partnering with specialist manufacturers, mirroring the evolution seen across other biomanufacturing industries.

The next chapter is about bringing great products to consumers, continuing to secure regulatory approvals, and building the demand that will further accelerate scale and reduce costs.

Congratulations to the entire PARIMA and Vow teams on this landmark achievement for cultivated proteins and the future of sustainable food.