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Exeter Council to ensure all food provided at internal events is climate friendly plant-based

Writer's picture: Plant-Based CouncilsPlant-Based Councils

Updated: Mar 29, 2023



  • On 14th December 2022 at the Full Council meeting of Exeter City Council, councillors voted in support of a motion asking the Council to play a role in raising awareness of the benefits of eating more plant-based.

  • The council will serve entirely plant-based food at future council meetings and internal events that are catered.

  • External sites, including council managed leisure centres, will increase and improve their plant-based offerings.

  • Local supporters of the campaign for Plant-Based Councils [1] say this is the logical and necessary next step after declaring a climate emergency.

  • This follows councils such as Oxfordshire and Cambridge which have also made commitments to plant-based catering.


Councillors at Exeter City Council have voted unanimously in support of a motion asking the Council to play a role in raising awareness of the benefits of eating more plant-based.


Duncan Wood, Lead Councillor for Climate Change, proposed the motion [2] at a full council meeting for Exeter City Council on 14th December 2022, asking the council to lead by example by ensuring that all food provided at catered meetings and internal events is fully plant-based.


In his speech to present the motion, Councillor Wood said:

"I am asking council to play a role in raising awareness of the benefits of plant-based foods, to ourselves, our families and our planet, and in our role as civic leaders, doing what we can to support the changes we as a society need to make. We need to lead the way."


Local resident Phil Sleigh, who supported the motion and was present at the meeting, said:

“I am delighted that my local council has shown leadership on the climate and ecological crisis. Most councils have now declared a climate emergency, but Exeter councillors have demonstrated that they are willing to play their part in leading the necessary shift away from the current levels of meat and dairy consumption.”


This comes after encouragement from the Plant-Based Councils campaign [1], requesting that the council follows other councils around the country in promoting healthy plant-based eating as the logical and necessary next step after having declared a climate emergency.


The Plant-Based Councils campaign believes that local authorities have an opportunity and a duty to lead the way in normalising plant-based eating, which is necessary if we are to tackle the climate emergency. Councils can reduce their own emissions by procuring more plant-based foods, and can address both the health and cost-of-living crises by encouraging residents to adopt healthier and cheaper ways of eating.


Similar motions have been carried by progressive councils such as Cambridge City Council and Oxfordshire County Council [3]. Oxfordshire County Council will ensure that all food provided at catered meetings and events is fully plant-based.


ENDS.

For more information or further comments, please contact plantbasedcouncils@gmail.com


NOTES TO EDITORS:


[1] The Plant-Based Councils campaign aims to address the climate emergency starting with the food on our plates. Working with councils across the UK to encourage them to lead the way in the switch from emission heavy foods to plant-based ones that are better for health, our planet and reducing the impact from the cost of living crisis. https://twitter.com/PBCouncils


[2] Exeter 'Plant-Based Food' motion: https://committees.exeter.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=56395


[3] Oxfordshire County Council votes to serve fully plant-based food at all council catered events https://news.oxfordshire.gov.uk/plant-based-food/




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