Fortune USA – September 2019

NOS.

CHANGE

THE

WORLD

86

FORTUNE.COM // SEPTEMBER 2019

An Impossible Foods burger uses 87% less water than a traditional

beef burger. A burger from Beyond Meat—made of pea, mung

bean, and brown rice proteins—requires 93% less land. If even a

tenth of the world’s meat-eating population replaced its burger

consumption with these plant-based options, the impact on the

environment could be monumental. These two companies’ meat-

less products aren’t catchall sustainability solutions; nearly any

ingredient produced at scale will have some negative effect on the

environment, notes Cliodhnagh Conlon, a sustainability consul-

tant with firm BSR. But with plant-based products from Beyond

Meat—which reported $87.9 million in net revenue in 2018 and

expects to exceed $240 million in 2019—already in Tim Hortons,

Dunkin’, and TGI Fridays; Impossible Foods’ product in Apple-

bee’s and White Castle; and competitors like Tyson introducing

their own copycats, it’s a promising start.

Can an e-commerce giant
help mom-and-pop retail-
ers compete against, well,
e- commerce giants? EBay
is trying just that with its
Retail Revival program, which
launched in 2018 to help local
businesses use digital plat-
forms to reach new markets.
EBay provides one-on-one
sales training over an eight-
week period, followed by 10
months of dedicated support.
The program has reached 10
cities in seven countries, with
75% of its 450 sellers new to
eBay. Already, 92% of buyers
for these new sellers are lo-
cated outside the sellers’ home
states, a sign of expanded ho-
rizons and diversified revenue.

Salesforce built a $13 billion
business by helping compa-
nies track sales metrics; now
it’s helping them track green
metrics too. An app rolled
out this year lets customers
measure and analyze the car-
bon emissions of all sorts of
elements of their businesses,
including the energy con-
sumed by their data systems
and their employees’ business
travel. Now in a 10-customer
pilot program, the app is part
of a broader campaign to
persuade corporate peers to
transparently report their
environmental impact to
shareholders —something
Salesforce has won plaudits
for doing in its own filings.

Two food pioneers are persuading fast-food fans

to eat plant-based meat substitutes.

REDWOOD CITY, CALIF./EL SEGUNDO, CALIF.

Reimagining the Hamburger

in Defense of the Planet

Impossible Foods/Beyond Meat

51

52

NO. 50

eBay
Teaching small retailers
to take a profitable
e-commerce leap.
SAN JOSE

Plant-based patties are made to taste more

burger-like at this Beyond Meat lab.

THE LIST 49– 52

NO. 49

Salesforce
An app strikes a blow
for environmental
transparency.
SAN FRANCISCO

PHOTOGRAPH BY SPENCER LOWELL