{"id":4329,"date":"2026-10-10T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pngbeyond50.atopng.com\/?p=4329"},"modified":"2026-10-10T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T09:00:00","slug":"bigger-is-greener-industry-leaders-say-scale-is-shrinking-insect-proteins-carbon-footprint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pngbeyond50.atopng.com\/?p=4329","title":{"rendered":"Bigger is greener: industry leaders say scale is shrinking insect protein&#8217;s carbon footprint"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"pb50-lead\">Two of the world&#8217;s largest black soldier fly (BSF) producers, France&#8217;s Innovafeed and the Netherlands&#8217; Protix, have published a joint perspective arguing that bigger insect farms are better for the climate, not worse.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pb50-keyfacts\">\n<h3>Key facts<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Wide range:<\/b> Published studies put BSF protein anywhere from about 0.5 to 77 kg of CO\u2082e per kg of protein, depending on feedstock, energy and accounting method<\/li>\n<li><b>Falling fast:<\/b> Innovafeed says its protein&#8217;s carbon intensity fell fivefold between 2022 and 2025, to 1.2 kg CO\u2082e per kg, with a target of about 0.6 by 2030<\/li>\n<li><b>Industrial symbiosis:<\/b> Co-locating with a starch plant, using its waste heat and wet by-products, cut the footprint of insect meal by about 80% in earlier research<\/li>\n<li><b>Comparison:<\/b> The authors say many conventional proteins, including fishmeal and soy protein concentrate, have higher footprints than industrial insect meal<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Why scale changes the maths<\/h2>\n<p>Early life-cycle studies of insect farming often looked at small pilot plants that used energy-hungry heating and drying. The paper, titled &#8220;When Scale Lowers Carbon: A Perspective on Industrial-Scale Insect Protein&#8221; and reported in September 2026, argues that large plants built next to food factories can share heat, power and by-products, sharply cutting emissions per kilogram.<\/p>\n<p>The authors also point to bioactive compounds in BSF that may support gut health and immunity in fish and poultry, which could improve survival and feed efficiency.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pngbeyond50.atopng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/pb50-bsf-farm-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Black soldier fly larvae being cultivated in a rearing tray\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption>Larvae in a rearing tray. Most of the carbon in insect protein comes from heating, drying and the feedstock, not the insects themselves. Photo: Vladlen Terezhe, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>The small-scale lesson<\/h2>\n<p>The same logic applies to village and town units: the greenest larvae are grown on waste that would otherwise rot, in a warm climate that needs no heating. That is the model PNG Beyond50 Foundation is pursuing.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pb50-angle\">\n<h3>What it means for PNG<\/h3>\n<p>PNG has year-round warmth and plenty of organic waste from markets, kitchens and agro-processing such as coffee. Siting BSF units next to these waste streams, as the Edai Town facility will, captures the same advantages the big European producers describe, at community scale.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pb50-sources\">\n<h3>Sources<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.animalbusinessmea.com\/2026\/09\/29\/innovafeed-protix-study-finds-insect-protein-gains-at-scale\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Innovafeed, Protix study finds insect protein gains at scale, Animal Business MEA (29 September 2026)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Innovafeed and Protix report that industrial-scale black soldier fly production can beat fishmeal and soy on carbon. Here is what the numbers say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pngbeyond50.atopng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pngbeyond50.atopng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pngbeyond50.atopng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pngbeyond50.atopng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pngbeyond50.atopng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pngbeyond50.atopng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pngbeyond50.atopng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pngbeyond50.atopng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pngbeyond50.atopng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pngbeyond50.atopng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}