Albert Han

Rice is a staple grain for half of humanity, but in places like Senegal farmers can’t grow enough of it.

When the global rice supply is hit by crisis - from climate change impacts and conflict to trade restrictions - Senegal feels the pain.

As climate change threatens coffee crops, Malaysian farmers hope a long-forgotten species could help coffee survive a warming world

The Brazilian Amazon has lost nearly 1 million square kilometres of rainforest in the last three decades, and our appetite for beef is the main culprit. Millions of cattle and thousands of slaughterhouses occupy once-pristine rainforest, and it’s not just cows: the production of soy and corn, two key commodities in feeding the global livestock industry, are also contributing to deforestation, which in turn worsens climate change.

Groceries are getting much more expensive – but one Dutch organisation thinks they should cost even more to account for the environmental and social damage they cause.

Neighbourhood store De Aanzet in Amsterdam is the first in the world to implement “true pricing” – a system of extra charges for food products that reflect the negative impacts from their production, from underpaid workers to carbon emissions and land and water use.

Far beyond the Arctic Circle, Svalbard is struggling to quit coal - what does this say about our reliance on cheap, dirty energy?

The taxi industry is one of the most gender-skewed professions in the world. The situation is slightly better when it comes to ride-hailing apps like Uber, but that comes with its own problems: women are paid less than men, platforms have been sued over safety, and working in the gig economy is precarious.

California Cultured’s lab-grown chocolate looks, feels and almost tastes like the real thing. “We’re still in R&D mode,” says Steven Stearns, Head of Strategy & Business Development at the startup based in Davis, California. Their goal is to create delicious, mass-produced chocolate, while sidestepping some of the problems related to cocoa harvesting that the traditional industry has been criticized for, including massive deforestation and child labour.

Cultivated, cultured, lab-grown, clean, animal-free, frankenmeat - in the last decade, meat that’s grown in a laboratory has accumulated more than a dozen names and counting.

The rise of lab-grown meat is a dilemma for Islamic and Jewish dietary laws: could animal-free meat ever be considered halal or kosher? It’s a question that both lab-grown companies and religious authorities are interested in tackling, as lab-grown meat inches closer to becoming a widely available product. A kosher or halal certification might be another stamp of approval for lab-grown meat and its promise: products free from animal cruelty and the high greenhouse gas emissions associated with meat production. We spoke to a rabbi, an imam, and other experts to find out if lab-grown bacon can be kosher or halal.

Traditional dairy products have faced stiff competition from plant-based alternatives in recent years. Now, there's another option on the table: lab-grown milk. Made from microbes in large fermenters, lab-grown dairy is an animal-free product that promises to significantly cut down on the greenhouse gas emissions created by cows and other animals, while providing the same taste and texture as beloved animal dairy products from ice cream to cheese and yogurt. We visited Remilk, a company in Tel Aviv, Israel, to find out how lab-grown dairy is made, and how far can it go toward solving dairy’s climate change problem.