Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries.

After decades spent protecting forests, fighting for human rights and shaping climate policy, Nigel Sizer has turned his attention to what’s on our plates. As the new CEO of the Good Food Institute (GFI), he argues that how humanity produces meat may determine the future of both the planet and public health.

“Our food system drives many crises,” he told Mongabay in September, “but it also has huge potential to be part of the solution.” He believes alternative proteins, made from plants, fermentation or cultivated animal cells, can relieve pressure on forests, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce the risk of zoonotic diseases.

Sizer brings the instincts of a coalition builder. At the World Resources Institute, he helped launch Global Forest Watch, a pioneering satellite tool for tracking deforestation. At GFI, he will apply that same skill to uniting farmers, scientists, regulators and investors around a shared goal: transforming protein production into an engine of climate resilience and economic opportunity.

His early priorities are pragmatic. Internally, he is learning the machinery of GFI’s global operations. Externally, he is urging governments and development banks to back alternative protein projects with the kind of public investment that once jump-started renewable energy. Such funding, he argues, would create jobs, improve nutrition and protect biodiversity long before crises strike.

Sizer also wants to bring farmers and producers into the transition. Diversifying crops and supply chains, he says, can strengthen rural economies while reducing waste and emissions.

He knows the challenge is vast, but so is the prize. “The future of meat,” Sizer says, “is not just about taste or price. It’s about reshaping an entire system.”

Read the full interview with Nigel Sizer here.

Banner image: Cultivated poke bowl produced by Ivy Farm. Image courtesy of Ivy Farm.