Efforts to transition global food systems are lagging around 30 years behind those of energy, Plant Based Treaty has said, as it outlined a strategy to reduce the food industry’s impact on climate change.
According to Plant Based Treaty’s report, Safe and Just, launched at COP28, the current global food system affects all nine of what are known as ‘planetary boundaries’, which regulate the current state of the planet’s stability.
In addition, it noted that the food industry is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions – more than all forms of transportation combined – and increasingly neglects factors such as food security, sustainability and community health.
Meat consumption increases
“Global per capita meat consumption has been dramatically rising since the 1980s,” commented Plant Based Treaty’s global campaign coordinator and co-author of the report, Anita Krajnc.
“Yet food policy is lagging 30 years behind energy. At COP28, food systems have made an appearance, albeit a few crumbs on the plate, not the urgent plant based agricultural revolution we need.”
‘Vegan donut economics’
The Safe and Just report outlines 40 proposals for a ‘plant-based transition’ that the group says would greenhouse gasses, land use, and ocean acidification. Based on economist Kate Raworth’s ‘Doughnut Economics’ model, it proposes a ‘vegan donut economics framework’ that will ‘focus on a just transition that includes everyone’.
As Plant Based Treaty notes, a plant-based food system presents an opportunity to feed the world with one billion hectares of land and rewild three-quarters of agricultural land.
According to report co-author Steven George, “Scientists have warned us that even if we phase out fossil fuels today, food emissions alone are enough to put the 1.5°C and 2°C targets out of reach.”
Plant Based Treaty was developed as an adjunct to the UNFCCC Paris Agreement, focusing on integrating food systems into efforts to address the climate crisis. Drawing inspiration from the Fossil Fuel Treaty, its objective is to stop the extensive deterioration of vital ecosystems attributed to animal agriculture and encourage a transition to sustainable, plant-based diets.
You can read the full report here.
