Cowless is a Dutch company focused on developing sustainable and plant-based alternatives to dairy products. Cowless aims to reduce the negative environmental impact of traditional dairy production while meeting the growing demand for healthy and ethically sourced foods.
To make this possible, Cowless devised an inclusive transition model. This model was created to encourage farmers to plant nut trees. Cowless then ensures that the nuts are used as raw material in a sustainable end product: fresh Cowless nut milk. In this way, Cowless works with the dairy industry to enable a transition to a future-proof farm.
The dairy industry has a number of substantial negative impacts on the environment. One of the most significant environmental impacts is greenhouse gas emissions, particularly from methane and nitrous oxide. In addition, water consumption and energy consumption for pasteurization, cooling and transportation also have a significant impact.
This is why Cowless uses cashew nuts as the raw material for its plant-based milk. We investigated the environmental impacts of producing this cashew milk. We looked at the impacts of cultivating the cashew, processing the nut, transporting it to the Netherlands and producing the final product.