An energy crisis looms for Europe’s industrial giants. For GEA Group, it’s an opportunity 

In a factory in Vantaa, a city in southern Finland, scientists and engineers are working on a groundbreaking innovation that converts carbon dioxide and hydrogen into a protein powder called Solein. The mustard-yellow powder, developed by Solar Foods, can be used in protein shakes and bars, pasta, and meat alternatives. The company claims Solein has dramatically lower emissions than conventional protein, and almost completely decouples protein production from land—reducing the need for intensive agriculture.  

German engineering company GEA Group invested €8 million ($9.2 million) in Solar Foods earlier this year, taking a roughly 5.5% stake in the Finnish company and becoming its strategic partner. It is the latest example of GEA’s commitment to sustainability—backing not just the idea of a more sustainable food system, but the technologies that could make it commercially viable.  

“I strongly believe that it is necessary to do something to save this planet,” says GEA Group CEO Stefan Klebert. “We are in climate change—nobody, I think, can ignore this anymore. We can do better.” 

Beyond the Solar Foods investment, GEA is embedding sustainability into its core business. It is currently redesigning the machinery and systems it manufactures—which are used to produce food, drinks and pharmaceuticals—to make them significantly less energy intensive (its technologies are used in dairy processing, food drying, fermentation, freezing, and........

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