PRESS RELEASES | 2025

The City of Parla, becomes the 40th city worldwide and first in Spain to support calls for an international Plant Based Treaty and prioritize plant-based food

Plant-based menus will be promoted in school cafeterias, day centres and residencies

Media Contacts:

• Spain: Enric Noguera, Plant Based Treaty Spain, +34 608 77 90 05, [email protected]

• Global: [email protected]

Media assets: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/17ovxyBvm4aa0fhHFElM-k3eJQMIfv5wb 

Media Contacts:

• Spain: Enric Noguera, Plant Based Treaty Spain, +34 608 77 90 05, [email protected]
• Global: [email protected]

Media assets: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/17ovxyBvm4aa0fhHFElM-k3eJQMIfv5wb 

May 24, Parla, Spain —The city of Parla has become the 40th city worldwide, and the first in Spain to endorse the call for a global Plant Based Treaty. They join cities including Amsterdam, Los Angeles, Edinburgh and Belfast in recognizing the need to prioritize plant-based food and education to lower greenhouse gases and meet the legally binding 1.5C °c target of the Paris Agreement.

The motion introduced by Más Madrid’s Miguel Fuentes, portfolio holder for ecological transition, youth and sustainable mobility, passed at the Plenary Session of the Parla City Council on May 14 2025, with 14 votes in favour and 11 against. In the motion, the city of Parla acknowledges that animal agriculture “contributes disproportionately to climate change, biodiversity loss, water and air pollution, and food and land injustice.”

Miguel Fuentes said, “Systemic changes are needed to transition from a food model based on exploitation to one that cares for the planet, people, and animals. Joining Plant Based Treaty is a first step.”

The motion commits the Parla City Council to:

1. Transition the local food system to become more sustainable and healthy by promoting plant-based diets.

    

2. Join other signatories of the Plant Based Treaty who have developed and implemented sustainable food policies in their climate action plans.

    

3. Developing a Local Sustainable Food Strategy, including:
• Promoting plant-based menus in school cafeterias, day centres and residencies
• Public awareness campaigns on the benefits of plant-based diets for health, climate and animal protection
• Supporting urban gardens and local organic agriculture, focusing on plant-based products
• Prioritizing plant-based food in public procurement
• Collaborating with education and health organizations to develop educational programs on the impact of the food system on the environment and health
4. Urging the Government of Spain and the government of the Community of Madrid to develop a National and Regional Food Transition Strategy consistent with climate and biodiversity goals.

    

5. Urge the Government of Spain to introduce carbon emission labeling on food products as a tool for transparency and consumer awareness.

    

6. Forward the Plant Based Treaty motion passed by Parla to the Ministry of Environment, Agriculture and the Interior of the Community of Madrid, the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and the 2030 Agenda, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, and the parliamentary groups in the Madrid Assembly and Congress.

Enric Noguera, Plant Based Treaty City Campaigner, Spain, said, “The city of Parla is showing true climate leadership by endorsing the Plant Based Treaty. We know that diet change can be a sensitive topic, but it is not an issue that we can afford to ignore. The science is clear: we need an urgent transformation of our food systems if we are to keep global temperatures below the 1.5 target established in the Paris Agreement. We are grateful for the councillors that presented and boldly supported the Plant Based Treaty motion, demonstrating the political will need in the face of this massive crisis.”

Background

The Plant Based Treaty is modeled on the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty and since its launch in August 2021, the initiative has received support from 40 cities, almost a quarter million individual endorsers, five Nobel laureates, IPCC scientists, and more than 4000 groups and businesses, including Heura, Jane Goodall Institute, Sociedad Española de Nutrición y Medicina Responsables (SENUMER), La Asociación de Residentes de Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública (ARES MPSP), and La Asociación Madrileña de Salud Pública (AMaSaP)