UN conference will serve mostly vegetarian, vegan food

Climate-friendly food tops the menu at this year’s climate change conference in Bonn 

Food awareness organisation, ProVeg International, has welcomed the decision by caterers at the annual UN climate conference in Bonn to serve mainly vegetarian and vegan food.  

The move marks a growing trend at global events to serve food that has a reduced environmental impact and follows on from the Paris Olympics and COP28 where plant-based food also took priority. 

At the Bonn conference, renamed this year as the June Climate Meetings (SB62), delegates will set the agenda for the COP30 climate summit in Brazil in November. The 5,000 delegates attending the Bonn event will be served a hot lunch menu that will be 57% vegan, and 14% vegetarian. The snack food offerings will be 37% vegan, and 46% vegetarian.

“We are delighted that the food at this year’s conference will be largely vegan and vegetarian,” Jasmijn de Boo, ProVeg Global CEO, said. 

“It gives the opportunity for delegates at this important, global conference to enjoy climate-friendly food and realise how tasty the solutions to climate change can really be. Plant-based food emits half the amount of greenhouse gases as animal-based food so nations need to promote plant-based food where they can^1,” de Boo added.

Broich Catering, a company whose origins date back to 1734, is providing the food for the climate conference.

Claus Meinen, part of the company’s management team, said: “This year, we are happy to contribute to sustainable and climate-friendly catering, and we appreciate the general recognition for this at the UN event, and at other events catered for at the World Conference Center Bonn.”

ProVeg attending Bonn

A team from ProVeg International is at the Bonn event, which runs from Monday, June 16 to Thursday, June 26.

ProVeg will be holding press conferences and is co-organising an official side event to engage delegates in the importance of food system change as a strategy to mitigate climate change.

Up to one fifth of total greenhouse gas emissions comes from animal agriculture² and 32% of human-caused emissions from methane – a powerful greenhouse gas – comes from animal farming³.

Prior to the 2022 Bonn conference, Bonn University published a paper stating that meat consumption in wealthy countries must fall by 75% to support the environment⁴. 

ENDS

Footnotes

1. Global greenhouse gas emissions from animal-based foods are twice those of plant-based foods | Nature Food
2. Global greenhouse gas emissions from animal-based foods are twice those of plant-based foods | Nature Food
3.  Cutting livestock methane emissions for stronger climate action (fao.org)
4.  Meat consumption must fall by at least 75 percent — University of Bonn.

For media inquiries, email Peter Rixon at [email protected].

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

About ProVeg International

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