From Air to Food: The European Hub for Gas Precision Fermentation

Global food systems face mounting challenges from climate change, resource scarcity, and fragile supply chains. Gas precision fermentation, a biotechnology where engineered microorganisms convert gases such as CO2 and H2 into nutrients, offers a transformative pathway to sustainable, resilient nutrition. AIR2FOOD will establish Europe’s first innovation hub for gas precision fermentation, uniting academia, pioneering companies, investors, regulators, and civil society into a coherent ecosystem. The project advances three demonstrators to TRL6, producing β-lactoglobulin (whey protein), β-alanine (nutraceutical), casein (milk protein), and β-palmitate (human milk fat) directly from CO2 and renewable energy. These demonstrators not only deliver success stories to build investor confidence but also act as sector proxies, covering diverse product classes, fermentation strategies, and microorganisms, and offering scalable, climate-positive alternatives to conventional proteins and lipids. AIR2FOOD integrates biotechnology advances with techno-economic and life-cycle assessments, green business models, investment roadmaps, and regulatory foresight to ensure outcomes are technically robust, economically viable, and socially acceptable. To accelerate adoption, it develops shared pilot infrastructures, an AI-enabled knowledge base, a browser-based economic and environmental assessment platform, and a regulatory sandbox - reducing barriers for start-ups and SMEs while informing policy. Stakeholder engagement spanning food companies, retailers, NGOs, chefs, farmers, and regional innovation valleys will foster trust, inclusivity, and acceptance. Embedding sustainability, legitimacy, and scalability from the outset, AIR2FOOD will position Europe as a leader in gas precision fermentation. In the long term, it will deliver safe, climate-positive food solutions that reduce import reliance, land and water use, and strengthen sovereignty, competitiveness, and climate neutrality.