The Oxford City Council in the UK has approved an ordinance to serve only vegan food at internal council events.
Oxford Town Hall.
The ordinance was sponsored by Labour councillor Paula Dunne, and was passed unanimously by the full council. The effort was initially put forth by the Plant-Based Councils campaign, and was previously approved by the Oxfordshire County Council. The Oxfordshire Council also agreed to increase the amount of plant-based food available at local schools.
“In the UK we eat twice as much meat and dairy as the global average, which is not sustainable on a finite planet, as there is not enough land in the world to meet this demand,” said Paula Dunne at a recent Oxford City Council meeting. “The rate at which we are eating meat and dairy is the leading cause of modern species extinctions.”
In 2021, Exeter City Council became the first in the UK to commit to plant-based internal events. Three other cities (Haywards Heath, Edinburgh and Norwhich) have endorsed the Plant-Based Treaty, which Norwhich having done so just last week.
“The adoption of a Plant Based Treaty as a companion to the UNFCCC/Paris Agreement will put food systems at the heart of combating the climate crisis”, states the official website for the Plant Based Treaty. “The Treaty aims to halt the widespread degradation of critical ecosystems caused by animal agriculture, to promote a shift to more healthy, sustainable plant-based diets and to actively reverse damage done to planetary functions, ecosystem services and biodiversity.”
