New York has unveiled plans to ban processed meat and cut red meat consumption by half in a bid to fight climate change.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said he wanted to reduce the city’s beef purchasing by 50 per cent at prisons, hospitals and schools by 2040. Under the plans, processed meat would also be banned from those facilities within the next 20 years.
Mr de Blasio, who is considering joining the race to become the Democratic presidential candidate, also introduced new rules to make skyscrapers more environmentally-friendly amid a wider plan to make the entire city carbon neutral by 2050.
Announcing the so-called Green New Deal, Mr de Blasio said he wanted to build on the success of Meatless Mondays, an initiative under the OneNYC 2050 plan which has seen only plant-based foods served in public-owned buildings on Mondays. The plan notes that beef has a high environmental impact compared with poultry and puts nitrous oxide and methane into the atmosphere.
The report also notes that processed meat contains more saturated fats and sodium, which are linked to heart disease. Mr de Blasio has brushed off suggestions that he is being a killjoy and claimed that even school children preferred to eat more vegetables. Hotdog sellers and fast food chains will not face curbs.
In a tweet Mr de Blasio said: “Look — I like a good burger as much as the next guy. But our @NYCSchools students know that livestock farming produces 20-50% of greenhouse gas emissions. That’s why they demanded #MeatlessMondays. Saving our planet is about saving their future.”
The announcement was welcomed by Chloe Waterman, programme manager for climate-friendly food at Friends of the Earth. She said: “New York City is strengthening its climate leadership by acknowledging the importance of slashing consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions associated with factory farmed meat”
Researchers from the University of Oxford found that beef consumption needs to fall by 90 per cent in Western countries to avoid a climate disaster.
