Amsterdam becomes the first EU capital to push for a global Plant Based Treaty on climate-impacted food systems, gaining support from 25 cities, including Edinburgh and Los Angeles.
In a statement, the City of Amsterdam Council says, “The way we produce, distribute, process, and consume food has a significant impact on the health of people and animals and contributes to the climate crisis.”
“With its Food Strategy, the municipality of Amsterdam takes responsibility to drive changes in the food system, ensuring that all residents of Amsterdam have access to healthy, fair, sustainable, and affordable food and drinks. One effort to achieve this is the shift towards more plant-based food.”
The Council adds, “The consumption of more plant-based proteins is better for our health. It can lead to fewer conditions such as cardiovascular diseases and colorectal cancer. It is also better for our climate impact by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and decreasing land use and depletion of oceans.”
“Moreover, less industrial livestock farming is better for animal welfare. The ambition is to shift the protein ratio in the city’s diet from 40 to 60 per cent plant-based by 2030.”
“By signing the Plant Based Treaty, the municipality of Amsterdam supports the global call to cities, organizations, businesses, and residents to contribute to combating the climate crisis by changing dietary patterns. The efforts of its own implementation agenda are pivotal in this regard.”
What is the Plant Based Treaty?
The Plant Based Treaty aims to address climate change by focusing on food systems, halting ecosystem degradation from animal agriculture, promoting sustainable plant-based diets, and actively restoring planetary functions and biodiversity.
The treaty says, “We are urging individuals, groups, businesses and cities to endorse this call to action and put pressure on national governments to negotiate an international Plant Based Treaty as a companion to the UNFCCC Paris Agreement.”
The treaty draws inspiration from the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, endorsed by Edinburgh in 2021.
Modeled after treaties addressing ozone layer depletion and nuclear weapons, the initiative, launched in August 2021, has garnered support from 135,000 individuals, 5 Nobel laureates, IPCC scientists, over 1000 NGOs and community groups, and 1000 businesses.
Supporters include the TAPP coalition, Redefine Meat, Oceanic Preservation Society, and local chapters of Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.
The Plant Based Treaty has garnered celebrity endorsements, including Paul, Mary, and Stella McCartney, who released a joint statement urging political support for the treaty. They say, “We believe in justice for animals, the environment and people. That’s why we support the Plant Based Treaty and urge individuals and governments to sign it.”
Amsterdam’s protein transition
Amsterdam is taking a leading role in the protein transition, adopting a motion by the Party for the Animals to transform into a ‘Plant Based Capital’.
The city is set to make strides towards becoming a ‘healthy, fair, and sustainable food city’ by entering a covenant with major employers and public institutions.
The proposed initiatives include offering full plant-based meal options in publicly funded institutions from 2024, implementing Vegan Fridays in restoration and catering services, adhering to Amsterdam’s set animal-plant protein ratio by 2030, and organising an annual plant-based conference involving care institutions, schools, universities, and other public entities in the city.
Lea Goodett, Plant Based Treaty Netherlands, says, “Amsterdam has demonstrated their climate action leadership as the first EU capital to endorse Plant Based Treaty. We urge more cities to sign up to address food system impacts on the climate emergency.”
“The introduction of plant-based food initiatives like Vegan Fridays will make sustainable plant-based food accessible to all, which will improve our health as well as strengthen food security.”
“Everyone can take part by emailing their city council inviting them to follow Amsterdam’s great example.”
Goodett adds, “Sea ice instability is a severe risk to the future of the Netherlands. The latest IPCC assessment projects the possibility of 1.5-2m sea level rise by 2100, which would see half of the Netherlands submerged, and as high as 5 meters by 2150 which would impact the entire country.”
“The easiest way to prevent further temperature rises is to cut methane fast and of all the methane produced in the Netherlands, around 70 per cent comes from animal farming.”
“A plant-based food system can deliver the methane cuts we need and offer an opportunity to feed the world with one-quarter of the land, allowing us to return vast areas of land to nature.”
“The Plant Based Treaty hopes to bring everyone together”
Lisette Weustenenk, Plant Based Treaty Netherlands, says, “In light of recent protests by farmers in Paris, Berlin and Brussels, the Plant Based Treaty hopes to bring everyone together.”
“Rising temperatures are a risk to food insecurity and food inflation, with 63 per cent of arable land in Europe being used to grow crops for farmed animals rather than humans directly.”
“Plant Based Treaty supports fair pay for farmers and financial packages, including subsidies to transition to sustainable plant-based systems and funding for rewilding and land stewardship.”
In the previous year, Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, endorsed the Plant Based Treaty and subsequently released its action plan for the treaty in January 2023.
Read the orginal article: https://siliconcanals.com/news/amsterdam-first-to-support-plant-based-treaty/
