Plant-Based Edinburgh campaigners organised a protest outside the City Chambers yesterday, speaking to the public and to the councillors as they entered the building.
Demonstrators urged people to support their campaign and called on councillors to help implement a just transition towards a sustainable food system.
After the demonstration, campaigners Lydia Elliott and Luke Ryan gave a deputation inside the chambers to explain why plant-based menus should be adopted.
During the deputation, graphs and statistics were handed to councillors which showed how devastating animal agriculture is to our planet in terms of carbon emissions, deforestation and freshwater consumption.
The council rejected adopting plant-based menus, citing a lack of demand as the key reason. Although, recently they trialled providing an option for a fully plant-based menu at City Chambers events, but they did not trial mandating plant-based menus for events or canteen meals.
Lydia Elliott said: “We feel that 100% plant-based menus have not been given a fair chance. Although the report states that 100% plant-based menus were made available for events, on the menus we’ve seen, the vegan options are at the very bottom, which has a strong psychological effect on emphasising that animal products are the ‘normal’ choice.”
Over 450 Edinburgh residents signed the petition urging the council to switch to plant-based menus.
The petition reads:
“Farming animals is one of the largest causes of methane emissions, which are rapidly accelerating climate change. Increasing demand for animal products is the biggest driver for deforestation and habitat loss globally.
‘Waste from animals is a major source of water pollution, causing algal blooms in rivers and creating oceanic dead zones. Switching to plant based eating is one of the simplest and most effective ways we can address these key environmental issues.‘
Council officers created a report into the petition proposal, which was then evaluated by councillors.
The report states: “Animal-based meals can have an environmental impact 14 times higher than that of PB meals. If the Council were to remove meat and dairy products within internal catering, this would reduce goods and services emissions by a calculated estimate of 60,896 kg CO2e.”
At yesterday’s Policy and Sustainability Committee meeting, the councillors voted to endorse the report unamended. The report recommended against a 100% plant-based commitment, and advised further monitoring of food choices, but contained no commitment to increase plant-based options, despite saying that “there is a potential risk to reputation if the Council does not proceed with an approach that fully removes animal-based products”.
Green Party Councillors proposed an amendment to the report, and suggested that at least for council meetings, if not events such as weddings, vegetarian menus should be adopted. Unfortunately the Green amendment was voted down 14-3.
Green Councillors were frustrated by the council staff not looking into the possibility of lowering the price of plant-based options compared to options with animal products. This was proposed at the previous policy and sustainability meeting in October but got dropped.
Councillors cited concerns with accessibility and allergies as one of the reasons to reject fully plant based menus. This is despite the fact that plant based food avoids key allergens such as dairy, fish and shellfish and is compatible with religious food requirements such as halal and kosher. Plant-based meals can easily be prepared which avoid allergens.
Astonishingly, one vegetarian councillor argued against adopting plant based menus on the basis that they were taking choices away from vegetarians, despite the fact that plant based meals are all suitable for vegetarians.
The council’s report states in Section 7.2 [3]: “Sustainable food choices, procurement and production are key to Edinburgh’s ambition to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, as well as supporting nature’s recovery from the current biodiversity crisis.”
During the debate, Green councillor Alys Mumford emphasised that this statement is contradicted by the report’s conclusion that the council should not adopt plant-based menus.
Luke Ryan from Plant-Based Edinburgh said: “The council’s decision to adopt the report unamended is a betrayal of its Net Zero commitment and its Plant Based Treaty endorsement.
“We are disappointed by this decision, but we will not give up on engaging with the council, alongside other institutions in Edinburgh, to campaign for plant-based menus. The science tells us that this change is urgently necessary.”
