Climate activists set up free vegan food truck in front of Bonn Climate Conference to demand 100% plant-based catering

Plant Based Treaty campaigners treat climate delegates to free tasty vegan hot dogs and distribute position paper “21 Cities call for a global Plant Based Treaty”

Media Contacts:
Bonn: Lisette Weustenenk, food truck: +31 6 55 51 66 15
Bonn: Tim Werner, science campaigner: +49 163 2011174
Global: Anita Krajnc, global campaign coordinator, +141 6825 6080, [email protected]

Media Files:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1j53Ys3jzHME3An-2HzbdEg86dT1G_HKg?usp=sharing

Food for thought truck:
When: 9, 10 & 12 June 2023 between 11 AM – 5 PM (CET)
Where: World Conference Center Bonn (to the right of entrance), Platz d. Vereinten Nationen 2, 53113 Bonn, Germany

Position paper: 21 Cities call for a global Plant Based Treaty

Side event:
When: 12 June 2023 at 11.45 AM (CET)
Where: Kaminzimmer Room, World Conference Center, Bonn Climate Conference:
Title: Counting the impact of industrial farming on our climate
Join online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2CBlhrTNK8 

Petition: 

https://www.drove.com/campaign/6479e2413aa1f55325db3378

June 1, 2023 — Climate activists have parked a food truck at the entrance of the World Conference Center in Germany, for the second year running, with plans to distribute 2000 free vegan hot dogs to show Bonn Climate Conference delegates that a transition to a plant-based food system is essential to addressing rising food-related greenhouse gas emissions. 

Plant Based Treaty campaigner Lea Goodett from The Netherlands says, “We started the vegan Food for Thought truck as a way to engage with the public and decision-makers about sustainable plant-based diets. Plant-based food not only has the smallest environmental and climate footprint, but offers familiar dishes that are very tasty.”

A team from the Humane Society International attending the Bonn conference revealed that more land animals than ever before are being slaughtered. An estimated 92.2 billion land animals and between 1-3 trillion sea animals are killed by the food system each year according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. 

To accompany the vegan hot dogs, Plant Based Treaty, which has achieved UN Observer Status, has handed out more than 100 copies of its newly released position paper, 21 Cities call for a global Plant Based Treaty, to climate conference delegates. The position paper calls for immediate, rapid, and sustained cuts to greenhouse gas emissions from both fossil fuels and animal agriculture in order to prevent catastrophic climate breakdown. Anita Krajnc, Plant Based Treaty global campaign coordinator says, “The position paper shows why delegates at the Bonn Conference and COP28 in Dubai this December must put food emissions on the agenda. While 21 cities including Los Angeles and Edinburgh have endorsed the Plant Based Treaty, we similarly call on world leaders to advocate for a global agreement on a desperately needed transition to a plant-based food system.”

The food system accounts for a third of greenhouse gas emissions and would bust the carbon budget even if fossil fuels were ended immediately. The paper cites the 2021 UN Methane Assessment Report which attributes 32% of human-caused methane emissions to animal agriculture, the largest source. Research from Oxford University’s Joseph Poore found that 83% of agricultural land is used to farm animals yet supplies just 18% of calories. Scientific evidence from a Lancet study shows a plant-based food system will reduce food’s greenhouse gas emissions by around 80% and free up more than 3 billion hectares of land for biodiversity and carbon drawdown. 

Lisette Weustenenk, a campaigner from Plant Based Treaty Nederlands says, “We are encouraged to see the Bonn Conference has added vegan options to the cafeterias this year. Our Plant Based Treaty petition calls for COP28 and all environmental conferences to focus on solutions and best practices rather than making the climate emergency worse, so we’d like to see the Bonn Climate Conference commit to 100% plant-based catering.”

On Monday 12 June 2023, at 11.45 CET, Plant Based Treaty will join World Animal Protection, Brighter Green, Sinergia Animal and the Global Forest Coalition for a side event: Counting the impact of industrial farming on our climate.

Background

The Plant Based Treaty has 3Rs and 39 detailed proposals calling for a global transition to a plant-based food system and calls for negotiation of a global treaty as well as local implementation at the municipal level, schools, universities, hospitals, businesses and other local institutions. 

The Plant Based Treaty is modeled on the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty and inspired by treaties that have addressed the threats of ozone layer depletion and nuclear weapons. Since its launch in August 2021, the initiative has been endorsed by 21 cities including the Scottish Capital Edinburgh, Los Angeles and Ahmedabad and received support from 100,000 individual endorsers, 5 Nobel laureates, IPCC scientists, Sir Paul, Mary and Stella McCartney, more than 3000 NGOs, community groups and businesses, including Oceanic Preservation Society and chapters of Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and Extinction Rebellion.