Enfield council in London is believed to be the first local authority in the UK to make such a decision.
The climate emergency is a real problem facing governments across the country, important and drastic changes need to be made to help combat the problem and reducing meat intake is one of them.
In a first for local governments in the UK, Enfield council plans to only serve vegan and vegetarian food will be served at events hosted by the council. They have included this aim in their ‘action plan’ for this year as part of their overall effort to make a difference, the council also aims to be carbon neutral by 2030.
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Deputy council leader Ian Barnes commented, “The emergency is real and the action to remedy it must be local, national and global”.
The Vegan Society’s Sam Calvery welcomes Enfield Council’s decision, she commented, “A comparison of even the lowest impact beef with plant protein such as peas shows that beef is responsible for six times more greenhouse gasses and 36 times more land … For councils that have declared a Climate Emergency this would be a simple policy to enact which would have a positive impact.”
However, not all responses have been positive, Mo Metcalf-Fisher from the Countryside Alliance, stated the decision to ban meat is an “awful move”.
