'Environment unfriendly': Why is UN COP26 climate meet's menu under fire? Read to know

The menu for the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) came under the scanner on Wednesday for being full of intensely ‘carbon-heavy' meals offered to some 30,000 delegates at Glasgow’s SEC centre. While 42% of the COP26 menu was ‘vegan’ and labelled with the lowest carbon footprints, most of the animal-based meals more than doubled the carbon footprint of the average UK meal, as per the critics and the environmentalists who are now widely condemning the meal plan. 18% of global GHG emissions are driven by animal-based meat, the environmentalists argued, and the government had earlier promised to put “sustainable measures at the heart” for this year’s COP 26 climate change meeting.  

“We have worked hard to create low-carbon menus that are accessible to all. We hope our sustainable food strategy will shape menus of the future as we all work to protect our planet,” SEC Food Business Director Kevin Watson said in a statement. 

“As well as providing great-tasting and nutritious food, our menus are focused on local and seasonal sourcing, with a plant-forward approach. We have been delighted to showcase and work with so many local Scottish suppliers and our teams are looking forward to supporting the event,” he added. 

Center for Biological Diversity, Farm Forward, and Brighter Green estimated that if climate conference shifted from meat to plant-based patties, that would cut each burger’s carbon footprint by 82%.

High-carbon animal-based food at 'almost every food stand'

80% of the seasonal ingredients on the COP26 plant-based dishes were sourced locally from Scotland. However, the sustainability of the menu overall left the attendees confused as almost 60% of it contained meat or dairy-based dishes. A cheeseburger at COP26 has a carbon footprint of 3.4 kg, and while one might expect the climate conference to list an eco-friendly menu, every other dish at the service was high-carbon at almost every food stand, according to UK’s newspaper The Big Issue. 

As over 90 world leaders and tens of thousands of government representatives, and citizens gathered at the 26th session of the conference of the parties, they were disappointed to find that the meat and beef surpassed  “plant-forward” and sustainable versions of Scottish delicacies. Every meal on the COP26 menu had calculations mentioned regarding how much greenhouse gas emission went into preparing it. Also, the emissions rating measure was put out by Sussex catering company—Compass Group.

“According to the WWF, we need to get [the carbon footprint of food] down below 0.5 kg CO2e [per meal] to reach the goals defined in the Paris Agreement,” the statement on each page of the online COP26 menu read. “By including climate labels on our our menus, we aim to make it easier to achieve this goal – together.”

'Serving cigarettes at a lung cancer conference'

COP26’s Scottish beef burger at Clydebuilt Bar and Kitchen attracted the most frowns for generating a whopping 3.9 kg C02 equivalent emissions (ee) figure and costing about $17 at the climate conference. That’s equivalent to the greenhouse effect by the car driving up to 10 miles as per the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Another heavy carbon emission category meal, the buttermilk grilled chicken burger attracted flak for its 1.1kg C02ee score which measures the same as the car driving nearly three miles and generating carbon emissions. Other than that, the smoked chicken pizza, topped with Scottish buffalo mozzarella and rosemary, and Scottish buffalo mozzarella pizza had carbon emissions that measured 1.7kg C02ee and 2.1kg C02ee respectively. 

In portions of pasta, the Braised Gartmorn Farm meatballs made out of Scottish-raised turkey that has a 0.9k C02ee rating and costs $13.66 was questionable. CNN reporter DJ Judd however rated venison sausage rolls on the menu as concerning since the baked treat accounted for the highest environmental impact. BBC’s investigation found that the plant-based croissants being offered at COP26 had a worse environmental impact and bigger carbon footprint as compared with meat croissants.

“The utterly reckless inclusion of meat, seafood and dairy on the COP26 catering menu is a damning indictment of the UK government’s utter failure to grasp the root cause of the climate crisis. It’s like serving cigarettes at a lung cancer conference. As long as such illogical decisions are being made, the climate emergency will never be resolved," The Big Issue newspaper quoted Joel Scott-Halkes, a spokesperson for campaign group Animal Rebellion, as saying. 

Twitter was quick to point out that the nuts have a massive carbon footprint, referring to the almond croissants served at the climate conference. Critics called out COP26’s hypocrisy by displaying beef and bacon at the top of the menu at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC), two of the largest carbon footprint generators and anthropomorphic greenhouse gases. The “haggis, neeps, and tatties” dishes used 3.4kg of carbon to produce, according to the conference’s owning rating system by the Swedish start-up Klimato. In 2017, COP23’s Sustainability Task Force ensured that 60% of the food at the climate conference was vegetarian, and 20% came from Bonn, Germany. But this year, the conference moved further away from the plant-based low carbon menu.    

(IMAGE: AP/Twitter/@Stbenetsbees)