On 4/5/23, students at London Metropolitan University voted in favour of a motion proposed by Plant-Based Universities campaigners. The motion asks the university to transition its food outlets to 60% plant-based dishes by the 2024/25 academic year across Holloway Campus [1].
The result also means the Students’ Union Trustee Board will lobby the university to increase this percentage of plant-based main dishes by 10% each year, subject to financial feasibility. This would result in 100% plant-based catering by the 2028/29 academic year.
The vote aims to take decisive action on the climate and ecological crises through a just and sustainable transition to 100% plant-based catering.
The vote follows students at the Universities of Cambridge, Stirling, Birmingham, and Queen Mary University of London voting for similar measures in recent months [2].
In the fifth vote of its kind in the UK, a motion for the university to go plant-based has passed. Campaigners claim that this demonstrates young people’s dedication to clear solutions to the climate and animal emergencies.
Sofia Fernandes Pontes, 26, Plant-Based Universities London Met campaigner, said:
“It is now clear that young people, students like us, are stepping up and taking bold and decisive action on climate. This vote is yet another display of a turning tide in the conversation on the need for a plant-based food system. I hope this sends a clear message of inspiration and hope to anyone struggling for climate, animal, and social justice.
We will work with our catering department and student union officers to implement this change in a way that showcases affordable, nutritious, and delicious plant-based options for students at our university.”
The latest IPCC report has highlighted the need for efficient use of land to tackle the climate and ecological crisis [3]. This would prevent deforestation and allow rewilding to occur, drawing down vast amounts of carbon from the Earth’s atmosphere. According to a 2019 Harvard study, animal farming is the single biggest land user in the UK. The same study stated that better use of this land could make the UK carbon-negative [4].
A 2018 University of Oxford study also stated that 76% of global farmland would be freed-up for rewilding if a plant-based food system was adopted worldwide. The carbon drawdown potential from this is critical for tackling the climate and ecological crisis, Plant-based Universities claims [5].
The Plant-Based Universities campaign is a nationwide initiative of students who are pushing for their universities and student unions to adopt 100% plant-based catering [6]. The group claims that universities have an obligation to follow the scientific research that they produce, detailing the environmental impacts of animal farming and fishing. The campaign is active in over 40 institutions, with the group encouraging interested students to sign up to run local campaigns.
The Plant-Based Universities campaign is supported by the well-known animal and climate justice group Animal Rising.
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Notes To Editors:
[1] Confirmation of the result can be obtained from the Students’ Union directly via E.Rowley@londonmet.ac.uk
Queen Mary University of London: https://www.plantbaseduniversities.org/post/queen-mary-university-of-london-students-union-votes-for-plant-based-catering
Birmingham: