Party for the Animals wants plant-based food by default during upcoming UN Climate Summit
Anja Hazekamp of the Dutch Party for the Animals and six other MEP’s call on the organization of the 26th UN Climate Conference in Glasgow (COP26) to serve plant-based food by default during the two week long summit in November. “Less meat and dairy reduces the emission of greenhouse gasses and lessens climate change. Especially during a leading climate conference it is important to set the right example.”
Campaign clip about the concept ‘Plant-based by default’ by the NGPF, the scientific bureau of the Dutch Party for the Animals.
In a letter, MEP’s are calling upon the main organizers of the UN climate summit to introduce the concept ‘Plant-based by default’. Following this principle, all meals are served without meat or fish, unless participants explicitly request a meal with meat or fish beforehand. This concept was developed by Henriëtte Prast, economist and expert on behavioural economics and senator for the Dutch Party for the Animals. “How a choice is presented, influences what people choose, and this effect is huge”, states Prast. Meat consumption is significantly smaller in places where the default menu has no animal products.
And this can be achieved without interfering with people’s freedom of choice. “People can still opt for a piece of meat, but it will not be forced upon them anymore”, explains MEP Anja Hazekamp. She hopes that the British organization will seriously consider her proposal for climate-friendly catering. “Especially at a leading climate conference it is important to realize change. Besides this, the carbon footprint of the event will be lowered by making climate-friendly food the standard.”
Thanks to the Party for the Animals, the concept has been adopted by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, amongst other places. Through the European delegation of the party and its sister parties around the world, the concept is gaining more and more traction internationally as well. Inventor Henriëtte Prast received enthusiastic replies from various countries in response to her lecture about behavioural change during the world conference ‘Food & Health: Saving the World with Fork and Knife’ .
Lecture ‘Behaviour Change and the Concept of Plant-based by Default’ by Henriëtte Prast during the Animal Politics World Conference ‘Food & Health: Saving the World with Fork and Knife’ (10 & 11 July 2021).
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The Party for the Animals explicitly highlights the relation between the climate crisis and our food. Even though it has been scientifically proven that the impact of our current food system is disastrous for our climate, nature and biodiversity, it is not yet on the summit’s agenda.
There is a petition by the Party for the Animals and fourteen sister parties from around the world that calls on world leaders and governments to get to work in creating a safer, more sustainable, healthier and more animal friendly food system. The parties invite everyone to sign and share the petition.