#Scientists4LessMeat
Scientists call on city mayors:
Reduce meat in public
canteens to tackle the
climate emergency!
Are you a scientist?
We are living in a climate emergency. We need to drastically and urgently reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere, to maintain a safe climate and planet for us and future generations.
We cannot effectively address the climate crisis we are currently facing without tackling the huge impact that industrial meat production and consumption has on our planet. Animal farming currently causes 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions. If we do not intervene this could even grow further.
City mayors have the power to do this by changing their procurement policies and reducing the amount of meat and increasing plant-based foods served in public canteens.
We call on city mayors to act now!
This letter will be delivered to the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact & C40 global cities summits that will happen from October 7th to October 12th.
Scientists call on mayors to adopt measures to reduce meat and dairy consumption
Dear Mayors,
Scientific consensus of currently observed and projected future climate and biodiversity impacts clearly calls for the rapid transformation of our society at all scales and across all sectors, in order to maintain a safe climate and planet for the future of humanity.
City leaders play a crucial role in advancing innovative solutions that improve the well-being of citizens while contributing to maintaining a safe climate and planet for future generations (1). One such form of innovative solutions relate to urban food policies, which offer win-win options to improve public health in urban centers and at the same time greatly contribute to reducing climate emissions both in rural and urban areas.
The greenhouse gas footprint of livestock products is approximately 10–100 times greater than plant-based foods (2). Reducing over-consumption of livestock products would greatly reduce the environmental impacts of food production (3). For example, it has recently been shown that a sixth of the carbon footprint of average diets in the Europe is due to tropical deforestation emissions (4). Meat and dairy production require large amounts of feed which often is produced from cropland expanding into newly deforested land (5).
While hunger and under nutrition remain a critical global issue, malnutrition is increasingly becoming a problem: dietary changes from current diets to healthy diets are likely to potentially avoid about 10 million deaths per year (10.8–11.6 million deaths per year, a reduction of 19.0–23.6%) (6).
Studies show that it is not necessary for humans to become vegetarian or vegan to have significant impacts on climate change and food security – a shift globally towards healthy diets would greatly reduce the adverse environmental impacts of food production, and would also benefit human health (7).
City leaders all over the world are moving ahead with ambitious urban food policies.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams recently announced that all 1,700 NYC public schools will serve meatless meals every Monday: more than 1.1 million students will have a vegetarian meal every week.
In Lille, France, the school menu offers two meals weekly without meat or fish a week in the canteens of its public schools. The Lille school district serves about 14,000 meals a day. Since 2014, the city of Lille already implemented one vegetarian menu per week in its canteens.
In Mexico, Veracruz’s “Come Consciente” program launched in April 2018 requires that all schools in the state of Veracruz (the second-largest state in Mexico) serve plant-based meals on Mondays.
In the coming days, hundreds of cities will take part in the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact annual conference in Montpellier, France, and the C40 annual conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. To create a future that is healthy for both citizens and the planet, we call on mayors today to reduce meat in the meals served in our public canteens and to increase plant-based foods.
As scientists working for the public good, we are ready to provide you with further scientific evidence about these important topics during the forthcoming C40 and the MUFPP meetings and beyond.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Note: Signatories speak on their own behalf, and not on behalf of their affiliated institutions.
(1) Bertoldi, P., Kona, A., Rivas, S. & Dallemand, J. F. 2018. Towards a global comprehensive and transparent framework for cities and local governments enabling an effective contribution to the Paris climate agreement. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 30, 67-74.
IPBES 2019. Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.
(2) Clark, M. & Tilman, D. 2017. Comparative analysis of environmental impacts of agricultural production systems, agricultural input efficiency, and food choice. Environmental Research Letters 12, 064016.
Poore, J. & Nemecek, T. 2018. Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science, 360: 987.
(3) Bajželj B., Richards K.S., Allwood J.M., Smith P., Dennis J.S., Curmi E. & Gilligan C.A. 2014. The importance of food demand management for climate mitigation. Nature Climate Change 4, 924–929.
Tilman, D. & Clark, M. 2014. Global diets link environmental sustainability and human health. Nature 515, 518–522.
(4) Pendrill, F., Persson, U.M., Godar, J., Kastner, T., Moran, D., Schmidt, S. & Wood, R. 2019. Agricultural and forestry trade drives large share of tropical deforestation emissions. Global Environmental Change, 56, 1-10.
(5) Smith, P. 2018. Managing the global land resource. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 285: 20172798.
(6) Data from the latest Eat-Lancet Commission on Planetary Health: Willett, W., Rockström, J., Loken, B., Springmann, M., Lang, T., Vermeulen, S., Garnett, T., Tilman, D., DeClerck, F., Wood, A., Jonell, M., Clark, M., Gordon, L. J., Fanzo, J., Hawkes, C., Zurayk, R., Rivera, J. A., De Vries, W., Majele Sibanda, L., Afshin, A., Chaudhary, A., Herrero, M., Agustina, R., Branca, F., Lartey, A., Fan, S., Crona, B., Fox, E., Bignet, V., Troell, M., Lindahl, T., Singh, S., Cornell, S. E., Srinath Reddy, K., Narain, S., Nishtar, S. & Murray, C. J. L. 2019. Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. The Lancet, 393, 447-492.
(7) Smith, P. 2018. Managing the global land resource. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 285: 20172798.
Pete Smith
Professor of Soils & Global Change, University of Aberdeen, UK. FRS, FRSE, FNA, FRSB
Antonio Agudo
Researcher, Institut Català d’Oncologia (ICO), Spain
Eduardo Aguilera
Researcher, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
Roberta Alessandrini
Researcher, Queen Mary University of London, UK
María Alonso-Ayuso
Researcher, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
Peter Andersen
Professor, University of Bergen, Norway
Enrique Arboleda
Researcher, IGFL – Ecole Normale Supérieure Lyon, France
Ezequiel Arrieta
Researcher, National University of Cordoba, Argentina
Michael Bahn
Professor, University of Innsbruck, Austria
Bojana Bajželj
Researcher, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden
Andrew Balmford
Professor, University of Cambridge, UK
Sébastien Barot
Research Director, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, France
Juan Barriuso
Professor, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain
Falk Bartels
Researcher, Ruprecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg, Germany
Heinz Bauer
Professor, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Germany
Priska Baur
Researcher, Institute of Natural Resource Sciences, Switzerland
David Beaune
Researcher, University of Burgundy, France
Annette Becker
Professor, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Germany
Vanessa Bednarz
Researcher, Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Monaco
Laurent Bègue
Professor, University Grenoble Alpes / CNRS, France
Felicitas Beier
Researcher, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany
Elena Bennet
Professor, McGill University, Canada
Leroux Benoît
Researcher, Université de Poitiers – GRESCO, France
Tim Benton
Professor, University of Leeds, UK
Eva Berger
Researcher, University of Mainz, Germany
Angelique Berhault
Researcher, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Belgium
Mike Berners-Lee
Professor, Lancaster University, UK
Alberto Bernués
Researcher, Agrifood Research and Technology Centre of Aragon, Spain
Gilles Billen
Research Director, CNRS/Sorbonne University, France
Uta Bilow
Researcher, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
Maria Blanco
Professor, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
Stacy Blondin
Researcher, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, USA
Benjamin Bodirsky
Researcher, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany
Alberte Bondeau
Researcher, CNRS, France
Heiko Brendel
Researcher, University of Passau, Germany
Esther Brendel
Researcher, University of Mainz, Germany
Lutz Breuer
Professor, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Germany
Ben Brüers
Researcher, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Germany
Gilles Brunschwig
Professor, VetAgroSup, France
Sophie Caillon
Researcher, CNRS, France
Colin Campbell
Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry, Cornell University, USA
Roland Cash
Researcher, Asclépiades, France
Fritz Caspers
Researcher, CERN, Switzerland
Isabelle Champion
Researcher, INRA, France
Christina Chauvenet
Researcher, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
Yves Chilliard
Research Director, INRA, France
Eugen H. Christoph
Researcher, EFSA-European Food Safety Authority, Italy
Kim Cobb
Professor, Georgia Tech, USA
David Combosch
Professor, University of Guam, USA
Chelsie Counsell
Researcher, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, USA
Cecilia Cousin
Researcher, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Belgium
Wolfgang Cramer
Professor, CNRS (IMBE), France
Kevin Dadaczynski
Professor, Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Germany
Emilie Dardenne
Researcher, Université Rennes 2, France
Corentin Dechaud
Researcher, ENS de Lyon, France
Nathalie Dehne
Researcher, Fakultät für Gesundheitswissnschaften Brandenburg, Germany
Miguel Delibes
Professor, Doñana Biological Station CSIC, Spain
Cassandra Derreza-Greeven
Researcher, University Heidelberg, Germany
Marion Desquilbet
Researcher, Toulouse School of Economics and INRA, France
Els Dhiedt
Researcher, Ghent University, Belgium
Xavier Devleeschouwer
Researcher, Royal Belgium Institute of Natural Sciences, Belgium
Sophie Devienne
Professor, AgroParisTech, France
Julio Díaz
Researcher, Carlos III Institute of Health, Spain
Mari Cruz Díaz Barradas
Professor, University of Seville, Spain
Rodolfo Dirzo
Professor, Stanford University, USA
Ribanna Dittrich
Researcher, University of Edinburgh, UK
Sandra Domizio
Researcher, NHS, UK
Michael Dueren
Professor, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Germany
Marc Dufumier
Professor, AgroParisTech, France
Michel Duru
Researcher, INRA, France
Jan P. Ehlers
Professor, Witten/Herdecke University, Germany
Roland Eichinger
Researcher, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Germany
Laure Emperaire
Researcher, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, France
Gidon Eshel
Professor, Bard College, USA
Frank Fiedler
Professor, University of Mainz, Germany
Verena Fingerling
Researcher, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Germany
Eve Fouilleux
Research Director, CNRS – University Paris Est, France
Severine Fourdrilis
Researcher, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Belgium
Jürgen K. Friedel
Researcher, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Austria
Franziska Friedrich
Researcher, Technische Universität München, Germany
Irina Fuchs
Researcher, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Germany
Tara Garnett
Researcher, University of Oxford, UK
Rosa-Belle Gerst
Researcher, University of Cologne, Germany
Kathrin Göbel
Researcher, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
Nicholas Golledge
Professor, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Mario González Azcárate
Researcher, Instituto Madrileño de Investigación y Desarrollo Rural, Agrario y Alimentario (IMIDRA), Spain
Carlos Alberto Gonzalez Svatetz
Researcher, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Spain
Lise Goudeseune
Researcher, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Belgium
Wolfgang Goymann
Professor, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
Rosemary Green
Professor, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK
Jan Grosse-Oetringhaus
Researcher, CERN, Switzerland
Jennifer Guse
Researcher UKE, Germany
Gloria Guzmán Casado
Professor, University Pablo de Olavide, Spain
Ivan Guzman-Bustamante
Researcher, University of Hohenheim, Germany
Dieter Hagedorn
Researcher, CERN, Switzerland
Bernhard Harrer
Researcher, Institut für Paradiesgestaltung, Germany
Helen Harwatt
Researcher, Harvard Law School, UK
Matthew Hayek
Professor, New York University, USA
Georg Heiss
Researcher, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Hans R. Herren
Researcher, Biovision, Switzerland
Vincent Hilomen
Professor, University of the Philippines Los Baños, the Philippines
Ines Hipolito
Researcher, University of Wollongong, Australia
Whitney Hoot
Researcher, University of Alaska/Government of Guam, USA
Elise Huchard
Researcher, CNRS, France
Adriana Humanes
Researcher, Newcastle University, UK
Roman Hüppi
Professor, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Hans-Peter Hutter
Professor, Medical University of Vienna, Austria
Marie Jamet
Researcher, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IFEU) Heidelberg, Germany
Christian Jessen
Researcher, Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research, Germany
Frédéric Joly
Researcher, INRA, France
Hendrikje Jorissen
Researcher, Centre des Recherches Insulaire et Observatoire de l’Environnement (CRIOBE), France
Peter Kalmus
Researcher, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA, USA
Kristine Karstens
Researcher, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany
Nivi Kessler
Researcher, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Israel
Andrew Knight
Professor, University of Winchester Centre for Animal Welfare, UK
Gertraud Kozanecki
Researcher, CEA-Saclay Irfu, France
Jochen Krattenmacher
Researcher, Biology Centre CAS, Czech Republic
Jens Kroeger
Researcher, CERN, Switzerland
Meichun Lai
Researcher, The Ohio State University, USA
Judith Lang
Researcher, Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA), USA
Frédéric Le Manach
Researcher, Bloom, France
Marcel Lotz
Researcher, University Observatory Munich, Germany
Hermann Lotze-Campen
Professor, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany
Jens Lund
Professor, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Jennie Macdiarmid
Professor, University of Aberdeen, UK
Maria Chiara Magri
Researcher, European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Italy
Mansi Maheta
Researcher, Charles University, Institute of Biotechnology, CAS, Czech Republic
Raphaël Manlay
Researcher, AgroParisTech, France
Inger Måren
Professor, University of Bergen, Norway
Marie-Claude Marsolier-Kergoat
Researcher, CEA/Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, France
Sandrine Mathy
Researcher, CNRS, France
Fernando Mendiola
Professor, Public University of Navarre, Spain
Anna Birgitte Milford
Researcher, NIBIO, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Norway
Silke Möbius
Researcher, University of Göttingen, Germany
Adrian Müller
Researcher, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, FiBL, Switzerland
Christoph Müller
Researcher, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany
Christoph Musik
Researcher, St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences, Austria
Elinor Nadir
Researcher, Tel Aviv University, Israel
Lucie Najak
Researcher, Inserm, France
Karen Neely
Researcher, Nova Southeastern University, USA
Coralie Neubüser
Researcher, CERN, Switzerland
Niklas Nolte
Researcher, CERN, Switzerland
Walter Noske
Professor, Medical School Brandenburg, Germany
Hazel Oakley
Researcher, Tropical Research And Conservation Centre, Malaysia
Dalia Ortiz
Researcher, University of Guam, US Territory
Thomas Otto
Researcher, CERN, Switzerland
Mercedes Pardo-Buendía
Professor, University Carlos III of Madrid, Spain
Marcello Passaro
Researcher, Technische Universität München, Germany
Jared Piazza
Researcher, Lancaster University, UK
Vincent Picco
Researcher, Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Monaco
Joseph Poore
Researcher, University of Oxford, UK
Prajal Pradhan
Researcher, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Germany
Sidonie Preiss
Researcher, Royal Belgium Institute of Natural Sciences, Belgium
Ivanka Puigdueta Bartolomé
Researcher, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
Chloé Pupier
Researcher, Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Monaco
Petra Quillfeldt
Professor, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Germany
Naomi Raab
Researcher, University College Dublin, Ireland
Francesca Riolo
Researcher, European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Italy
William Ripple
Distinguished Professor, Oregon State University, USA
Marta Guadalupe Rivera-Ferre
Researcher, University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia, Spain
Marc Robinson-Rechavi
Professor, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Susanne Rolinski
Researcher, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany
Elin Röös
Researcher, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden
Leon Rosentsvit
Researcher, Israel Institute of Technology, Israel
Benjamin Rottler
Researcher, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany
Sonia Rowley
Researcher, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, USA
Miguel Ángel Royo Bordonada
Researcher, Spanish National School of Public Health, Spain
José Luis Rubio
Researcher, CSIC, Universitat de Valencia, Spain
Patricia Ruiz
Researcher, Brandenburg Medical School, Germany
Antonio Ruiz de Elvira
Professor, University of Alcalá, Spain
Christine Rushton
Researcher, Drury surgery and Manukau district health board, New Zealand
Kristin Saksa
Researcher, Moss Landing Marine Labs, California State University, USA
María Sánchez-García
Researcher, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Spain
Alberto Sanz-Cobena
Researcher, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Michel Sauvain
Director of Research, IRD, France
Isabel Scheckenbach
Researcher, University of Regensburg, Germany
Ina Schenk
Researcher, German Sports University Cologne, Germany
Martin Schliephacke
Researcher, University of Giessen, Germany
Wolfgang Schmidt
Professor, University of Applied Science Munich, Germany
Lea Schneider
Professor, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Germany
Michael Schrödl
Professor, ZSM and LMU Munich, Germany
Christian Schwanenberger
Professor, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Germany
Duygu Sevilgen
Researcher, Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Monaco
Ran Shauli
Researcher, Bar Ilan University, Israel
Alon Shepon
Researcher, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, USA
Cody Sipe
Professor, Harding University, USA
Peter Birch Sørensen
Professor, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Fabian Sorn
Researcher, CERN, Switzerland
Kathleen Spring
Researcher, Bioanalytik Münster, Germany
Marco Springmann
Researcher, University of Oxford, UK
Scott Stripling
Researcher, National Hurricane Center, NOAA, USA
Caterina Sturtzel
Researcher Children’s Cancer Research Institute, Viena, Austria
Simone Susser
Researcher, University Hospital Frankfurt, Germany
David Suzuki
Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia, Canada
Sigal Tepper
Researcher, Tel-Hai Academic College, Israel
Franziska Teubler
Researcher, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Germany
Saskia Thorbecke
Researcher, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Germany
Phillip Timmer
Researcher, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Germany
Maria Cristina Tirado-von der Pahlen
Researcher, UCLA, USA
Malte Titze
Researcher, CERN, Switzerland
Nicolas Treich
Researcher, Toulouse School of Economics and INRA, France
Monika Trimoska
Researcher, University of Picardie, France
Ravi Tripathi
Researcher, Université Sorbonne Paris Cité – Paris XIII, France
Jessica Ullrich
Professor, University of the Arts Münster, Germany
Fernando Valladares
Professor, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Spain
Louise Vandelac
Professor, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
Bob van Oort
Researcher, CICERO Centre for International Climate Research, Norway
Sandra Vardeh
Researcher, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Germany
Isabelle Veissier
Researcher, INRA, France
Federico Velázquez de Castro González
Researcher, President of Spanish Association of Environmental Education, Spain
Jérémy Vendé
Researcher, AgroParisTech, France
Amélie Vernale
Researcher, Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie Marine et Continentale, University of Aix Marseille, France
Sara Vicca
Researcher, University of Antwerp, Belgium
Patrick Vrancken
Researcher, DLR (German Aerospace Center), Germany
Micha Weil
Researcher, University of Greifswald, Germany
David Weinstein
Researcher, Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat, Israel
Paul West
Researcher, Global Landscapes Initiative, Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota, USA
Stephen Whybrow
Researcher, University of Aberdeen, UK
Michael Wiebusch
Researcher, GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Germany
Walter Willett
Professor, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, USA
Mirko Wölfling
Researcher, University of Vienna, Austria
David Woog
Researcher, CERN, Switzerland
Clara Wriessnegger
Researcher, Stockholm University, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Sweden
José Luis Yela
Researcher, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
Daniel Zink
Researcher, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Germany
Kai Zosseder
Researcher, Technical University Munich, Germany
