200 groups demand a plant-based transition to cut food emissions in an Open Letter ahead of the C40 World Mayors World Summit in Buenos Aires

• The coalition recommends policy tools to implement 19 best practices for a plant-based food transition.
• All C40 cities should sign the Good Food Cities Declaration
• Cities are urged to join Buenos Aires in endorsing the Plant Based Treaty

Open letter: Open letter to C40 Mayors

Media: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1b3pxc41jpS6F56er53yazzP_74dlmZnX 

October 17, 2022 – A coalition of almost 200 groups and businesses, including Veg Climate Network, Plant Based Treaty, Better Food Foundation, Future Food 4 Climate, Compassion in World Farming, Humane Society International and Pro Veg International, has called for accelerated action on plant-based food solutions to the climate emergency in an open letter addressed to 100 mayors ahead of a C40 summit this week in Buenos Aires. 

The open letter to the mayors of the C40 cities applauds the efforts of cities to act collaboratively on climate solutions but highlights concerns over the lack of meaningful progress on food-related greenhouse gas emissions. The coalition urges cities to use their collective power to make advances on their climate commitments by following 19 key recommendations on best practices for a plant-based food transition.

C40’s research has identified that the single most impactful action cities can take is to accelerate dietary change towards plant-based diets. To reach C40 targets, such as lowering per capita meat consumption from 58kg to 16kg by 2030, cities must adopt and diffuse best practices to increase plant-based food consumption. Cities play a key role in shifting food norms in their communities and making veg foods more accessible.

Nital Jethalal, President of VegTO and co-chair of the Veg Climate Network, said,

“Shifting diets plant-based is the single most impactful climate action cities can take and would save lives, reduce costs and spur innovation. The commitments and public support are there. The mayors of the 100 C40 cities, especially in the global north, must act boldly and immediately to move our food systems plant-based.

To date, just 14 cities have signed the C40 Good Food Cities Accelerator, including New York City, where healthy plant-based meals are now served by default across the Health+Hospitals system. The city says the healthier meals are being well-received by patients (95 percent satisfaction rate) and about 60% of eligible patients are opting for the plant-based option.

Laura Lee Cascada, Campaigns Director, Better Food Foundation, said, 

“Last month, New York City boldly revealed how it’s flipping the script on harmful food norms: serving plant-based foods by default across an entire public institution, its hospitals. As global climate leaders, all C40 cities have a responsibility to model a sustainable food system by following New York, Berkeley, Amsterdam, and other trailblazers with their own plant-based commitments.”

The coalition is calling on all C40 cities attending this triennial meeting in Buenos Aires to:

1. Implement best practices on plant-based food solutions to the climate emergency. 
2. Sign and take concrete steps to implement the Good Food Cities Declaration, which includes a commitment to support “increased consumption of healthy plant-based foods by shifting away from unsustainable, unhealthy diets.”
3. Urge cities to join Buenos Aires and 19 municipal governments worldwide in endorsing the Plant Based Treaty as an essential step towards addressing food related emissions.

Allie Molinaro, Campaigns Manager, Compassion in World Farming, said, 

“With the renewable energy transition now underway in most major cities, reducing overreliance on animal-sourced food is the next frontier in tackling climate change. If C40 leaders are serious about upholding the Paris Agreement, they must turn their attention toward transitioning to a plant-based food system.” 

Anita Krajnc, global campaign coordinator for Plant Based Treaty, said,

“The IPCC consistently shows the vegan diet to be the optimal diet to fight the climate and methane emergencies. Cities play a crucial role in our bottom-up campaign to urge national governments to negotiate a global Plant Based Treaty. C40 cities are considered leaders on local climate action and can accelerate much needed progress by implementing best practices such as serving plant-based food at council events and using every policy tool at their disposal including public information campaigns, procurement, subsidies, investment, divestment, taxation, community gardens, and fruit and vegetable prescription programs.”

George Monbiot in his world-changing book Regenesis (2022) shows that global food systems are the single largest driver of ecological collapse, which means they also represent the biggest opportunity to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

“Already, 4 billion people suffer from water scarcity for at least one month a year and 33 major cities, including São Paulo, Cape Town, Los Angeles and Chennai, are threatened by extreme water stress. As groundwater is depleted, farmers have begun to rely more heavily on meltwater from glaciers and snowpacks. But these, too, are shrinking.”

Buenos Aires endorsed the Plant Based Treaty on 9th of August 2022. C40 city Los Angeles will vote on a Plant Based Treaty Resolution on October 18, 2022. It was introduced on 6 September 2022 by Councilmembers Paul Koretz and Marqueece Harris-Dawson.

Stephanie Cabovianco, Campaigns Director, Climate Save Movement, said,

“Considering that the cities have a goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 and that, according to C40, a change in the diet of cities could reduce emissions by up to 60% in just 10 years, we encourage all C40 cities to sign the Good Food Cities Declaration.”

Juliette Galletely, founder of Viva!, said,

“Time is running out as we search for solutions to the climate crisis. Yet changing our diet to vegan is the most powerful action we can take as individuals to reduce GH gases and give space to rewild.”

Anna Spurek, Chief Operating Officer, GreenRev Institute, said,

“The time of political and systemic inaction is over. Today, it is up to local governments to start making responsible decisions, introducing green procurement and building food policies to protect their inhabitants from food poverty & injustice and the consequences of climate change.”

Media contacts:

Nital Jethalal, President of VegTO and co-chair of the Veg Climate Network
+1 (647) 5280070 • [email protected]

Anita Krajnc, Global Campaign Coordinator, Plant Based Treaty
+1 (416) 825-6080 • [email protected] 

Laura Cascada, Campaigns Director, Better Food Foundation
+1 (540) 252-6732 • [email protected]