At MEGATREND INVEST sustainability is essential in all of our investments. We only make sustainable investments, and there are several reasons for this. For example, a sustainable index from MSCI (Select Reduced Fossil Fuels) has had a 30% better return since 2012 compared to the corresponding non-sustainable index. Also, sustainable investments support a better climate and a better future for all of us. You thus help both the environment and your investment portfolio.

Heyfunding have talked to Steen and Mathias from MEGA about problems, startups, investors, etc. in the context of sustainable investment. Below you will find an excerpt from the interview.

“The problem when you start talking about sustainable investment is the question – what is sustainability? It differs from person to person and culture to culture. The term is often used and sometimes misused. A funny example, an acquaintance once saw at a trade fair in Asia, was a company that had produced a mug in clay, which they advertised as sustainable. When asked why it was sustainable, they replied, “yes, it’s because you can wash it up and use it again”, says Steen.

“For us, sustainability is about making a positive impression on the climate, the environment, the globe, people, etc., and that is what we at MEGATREND INVEST mean when we talk about sustainability. Our investments must support the future – in other words: We invest in the companies we do not want the future to miss.”

“But sustainability can be challenging to measure, precisely because the perception of the concept varies. For example. How do you report that we save so much CO2 and compare it to another company that saves so many children? It’s hard to line up the two.

Let me give you a quick example:

• Sustainable business 1 produces food from insects. They save water because less water is used for 1 kg of protein from insects than for 1 kg of protein from animals.
• Sustainable company 2 is a medical company. Among other things, they save patients because their product can better cure diseases.

Both companies have been put in the same category – namely “sustainable companies”, but how the hell can we compare and measure them the same? “

“So there is a gap in the market for how we measure sustainability. We can easily dive into each case and find some numbers that show that they make a difference on different parameters. Still, as soon as we compare several different sustainable companies and put an amount on their value, we are challenged. Especially because the number of cases we can compare with each other is still relatively low.

Because it is difficult to compare sustainability across different cases, we ensure that sustainability is in focus through other means. At MEGATREND INVEST, we demand companies themselves have relevant KPIs within sustainability. They must have thought of a sustainable life cycle and a sustainable design in their business and products and show relevant KPIs based on this. “

Read the rest of the interview here.

Much of the protein we consume comes from meat, fish and poultry, but there is a far more sustainable alternative – insects.

Insects not only have many nutritional benefits. They also have a climate effect similar to that of plants. According to FAO the cost conversion rate for crickets is very high, which means that for the same amount of protein 12 times less feed is needed than for cattle. In addition, there is a much smaller need for water, because around 20,000 liters of water is needed to produce 1 kg of beef, but only 1 liter is needed to produce 1 kg of crickets – and they require very little space.

Edible insects are a superfood and an excellent source of quality protein – up to 80%. They also contain a variety of vitamins and minerals such as iron, vitamin B12, zinc and magnesium, which can be difficult to cover through a vegetarian diet. The UN has designated it as the food of the future, and the insect food market is also expected to increase significantly in the coming years.

In our part of the world, many of us have only experienced it indirectly and probably completely without knowing it. There are astonishingly many insects in orange juice, ketchup and coffee, and certain dyes are also based on special insects.

However, eating insects is by no means new. Up to 2 billion people around the world eat insects every day and it is so common that it includes 1900 insect species eaten by 80% of the world’s nations. In many cultures it is seen as a delicacy, and back in time cicadas used to be a bit of a luxury snack. The company Wholi Foods has already introduced insects as snacks here in Denmark.

Wholi Foods` mission is precisely to integrate insects into food because they are both nutritious and sustainable to produce. In addition to initially being a variety of insect snacks, protein bars and crispbreads, they have now also started manufacturing a product based on insect flour that can be used as a meat alternative.

MEGATREND INVEST, which has been financing the start-up of Wholi, recently went into the kitchen and tried out the new meat product Manna to make traditional burgers. Everyone agreed that it was a really good alternative to the well-known beef.

Want to try it, you can read more at www.wholifoods.com