Declaration on plant-rich diets to be presented to COP30 climate summit

MEP backing Declaration says plant-based food “essential to fight climate crisis”

A Declaration calling on UN member states to draft and implement comprehensive Action Plans for Plant-Based Foods will be formally presented at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil this coming weekend.

The Belém Declaration on Plant-Rich Diets urges nations to recognize the importance of eating more plant-based food in order to cut global greenhouse gas emissions, restore biodiversity as well as improve human health and food security. 

“I fully support the Belém Declaration’s call for ambitious national action plans to promote plant-rich diets,” MEP Cristina Guarda, of the European Parliament’s Green/European Free Alliance Group, said today. 

“Transitioning towards more plant-based food systems is essential to fight the climate crisis, protect public health, and ensure sustainable livelihoods for farmers and communities,” she said.

Guarda is one of several lawmakers among over 100 other stakeholders who have signed the Declaration, which will be presented by ProVeg International at COP30 in Belém at a press conference on Saturday, 15 November.

Juliette Tronchon, Head of UN Affairs at ProVeg, said: “We hope to raise awareness among delegates here at COP30 of the huge role that plant-based diets play in mitigating the climate crisis.

“By embracing plant-rich diets as a solution to effective emissions reduction, UN member states can make a real contribution to tackling the climate crisis,” Tronchon said.

Up to one fifth of total greenhouse gas emissions comes from animal agriculture¹ and 32% of human-cased emissions from methane – a powerful greenhouse gas – comes from animal farming².

Plant-based foods, however, emit half the amount of greenhouse gasses compared to animal-based foods. Plant-based foods also use far less land and water than animal foods, produce less air and water pollution, and do not require the use of antibiotics or contribute to the risk of a pandemic.

Based on the UN’s own scientific findings

The Declaration uses mainly the UN’s own scientific findings to lay out the benefits of plant-based diets for people’s health, the climate, food security as well as potential economic benefits. 

It seeks to both preserve the plant-rich culinary heritage of the Global South as well as address the overconsumption of meat in the Global North.

Specifically, the Declaration asks UN member states to do the following:

• Establish National Action Plans For Plant-Based Foods to promote healthy sustainable diets – from farm to fork – in order to increase food security and resilience, improve public health, mitigate climate change, protect and restore biodiversity, provide economic benefits, and ensure policy coherence. 
• Commit to a deadline for the publication of National Action Plans For Plant-Based Foods in time for them to be tabled for discussion at COP32 in 2027. 
• Commit to financial support for the implementation of National Action Plans For Plant-Based Foods from agrifood promotion budgets. 

Denmark introduced the world’s first Action Plan for Plant-Based Food in October 2023. The European Commission has been urged to introduce a pan-EU action plan by 2026.

ENDS 

Footnotes

1. Global greenhouse gas emissions from animal-based foods are twice those of plant-based foods | Nature Food
2. Cutting livestock methane emissions for stronger climate action (fao.org)
   

Notes to Editors

For media inquiries about ProVeg International, email [email protected].

For scientific data about the benefits of plant-based eating, see our Food System Data website.

About ProVeg International

Our vision is a world where everyone chooses delicious and healthy food that is good for all humans, animals, and our planet. ProVeg International is a food awareness organization with the mission to replace 50% of animal products globally with plant-based and cultivated foods by 2040.