ProVeg responds to UK Climate Change Committee call for financial incentives for plant-based foods

A report published this month by the UK Government’s advisors on climate change recommends making plant-based foods “attractive, accessible and affordable”.

The report, by the Climate Change Committee and commissioned by the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations, makes a series of recommendations to encourage people to eat less meat and more plant-rich foods.

Jasmijn de Boo, CEO of ProVeg International, said:

“We wholeheartedly welcome the report this month from the UK Government’s Climate Change Committee recommending financial incentives for plant-based foods and for restrictions on the advertising of meat and dairy products.

“This would start to reverse the perverse situation where animal products are subsidised. The farmed animal industry is paid to cause untold climate and environmental damage, as well as animal suffering to over 70 billion land animals globally per year.

“ProVeg has found that prices of plant-based meat have already reached price parity in the Netherlands with conventional meat products but incentives to accelerate this in other countries are vital. We are in the thick of a climate crisis and plant-based diets have been very clearly identified as a solution to cutting carbon emissions, including by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

“It is now up to Rishi Sunak’s Government to take on board this impartial, scientific advice and enact the appropriate measures.

“Without any action, the Prime Minister is in danger of going down in history as a leader who failed to act in the best interests of our children and the next generation by taking the necessary steps to reduce dangerous greenhouse gas emissions.”