The Vegan Society at COP26

The Vegan Society were present in abundance at COP26 – and just as well, as Governments from across the globe failed to tackle the Livestock Issue. Francine Jordan from the Society reports on what was achieved, and some of the positives to take away from COP26.

While it is encouraging to see such focus and worldwide acknowledgement of the damage methane causes, these unambitious targets don’t go nearly far enough to solving the crisis at hand.

Actions undertaken by The Vegan Society at COP26

During the 12 days that COP26 took place in Glasgow this year, The Vegan Society undertook various and numerous actions to further the vegan cause. These actions are outlined below:

• Throughout COP26 we had a stand in Glasgow’s Buchanan Galleries where we were engaging with members of the public and asking them to Plate Up! For the Planet. Those who signed up were allowed to choose a free gift courtesy of our many amazing Vegan Trademark holders.

• We joined forces with award-winning music and science festival, bluedot, for three special events during COP26 from Thursday 4 – Saturday 6 November. The Plate Up! Festival featured panels and in conversation talks, live music, DJ sets, comedy, and poetry. A special thanks to TV presenter Chris Packham for agreeing to headline too!

• We were based in the Blue Zone throughout COP26 where our Campaigns Team were able to meet and interact with politicians and government officials – meeting Ed Miliband was a real highlight.

• We had adverts running in the Glasgow underground, in the Scottish metro and on bicycles and buses throughout the City Centre to promote our Plate Up! Campaign and encouraging the likes of Boris Johnson and Nicola Sturgeon to come and talk to us about the benefits of a vegan diet

• We also had a stand in the COP26 Green Zone on Friday 12 November. The focus of this stand was to promote our ‘Follow the Science’ message and encourage people to go vegan for environmental reasons.

• In total we had 1,371 pledge to eat vegan for 7 days to help fight climate change

• We also attended the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) Virtual exhibit

• We were invited to talk about our Planting Value in the Food System report at the Nourish Scotland Recipes for Resilience panel event

• On Saturday 6 November we joined the COP26 People’s March

• We were also asked to join in an official United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) side event alongside organisations such as Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), Brighter Green and ProVeg International. This event will be held in the Blue Zone.

Ed Miliband: The Vegan Society campaign team were based in the Blue Zone and were able to meet and discuss veganism with politicians during their time there, including Ed.

‘Half-hearted’ COP26 pledge on tackling methane

The Vegan Society was, overall, disappointed by what it’s calling the ‘slow and uninspiring targets’ for tackling methane set at COP26 – despite the fact it has a global warming potential 84 times greater than CO2 across a 20- year time frame.

Alongside commitments to end deforestation and stop public investment in coal power, one of the more major announcements to come out of the twoweek conference, was the Global methane pledge - in which over 100 countries, including the US and EU, have committed to a 30% reduction in methane by 2030.

While it is encouraging to see such focus and worldwide acknowledgement of the damage methane causes, these unambitious targets don’t go nearly far enough to solving the crisis at hand.

Further to this, the announcement indicated that the focus will be on ‘high emission sources’ – which could be an indication that high point-sources of emissions, from natural gas extraction for example, will take priority. This may mean that the largest source of anthropogenic methane emissions – which as we know is caused by animal agriculture and farming – may slip under the radar at a time when all methane emissions must come down.

The damage caused by methane emissions from the agriculture sector has been largely ignored throughout the conference. While many countries have specific targets for GHG reductions in the energy sector within their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), we are not seeing equivalent targets in food and farming which accounts for up to one third of global emissions.

Louise Davies, CEO of The Vegan Society, commented: “We know that time is running out and we need to bring methane emissions down substantially and quickly – and proposing to reduce it by just 30% isn’t enough. Food really does feel like the cow in the room – it’s not that we’re lacking the solutions to address food and agriculture but it’s just that there’s still so much reluctance to have that conversation in the first place.”

“This slow pace of change reflects the low level of ambition we’ve come to expect from these climate conferences. The discussions around methane are very much welcome but must include plant-based policies which we know can support mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as adaption and resilience. We’ve seen some progress since previous COPs but it doesn’t go far enough.”

Whilst there has yet to be any global commitment on reducing methane from agriculture, there is some support from British politicians. At a UNFCCC side event co-hosted by The Vegan Society, former Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade, Barry Gardiner MP said: “The Global Methane Agreement… focuses too much simply on the oil and gas sector… we really do need to understand that 40% of methane emissions are actually coming from agriculture and from livestock and so we really have to address that.”

Barry Gardiner MP

BORIS JOHNSON. We need to talk. It’s urgent!

The Society was hoping to catch the attention of Prime Minister Boris Johnson with humorous adverts running on billboards, bicycles and in the Scottish Metro during COP26.

The eye-catching advert featured a bright yellow post-it note for Boris – telling him that he needs to urgently talk to The Vegan Society. It also suggests he comes to Glasgow’s Buchanan Galleries where The Vegan Society were present throughout COP26 encouraging people to try a plant-based diet for a week and providing handy carbon-assessed recipes and delicious vegan treats.

The ad also included a QR code that directs commuters to our Plate Up for the Planet campaign which asks people to eat vegan for just 7 days.

There were four adverts running concurrently, with the other three aimed at Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Duke of Cornwall Prince Charles and US President, Joe Biden.

Louise Davies, CEO of The Society, said: “There’s no doubt that the growing climate crisis is a very serious issue. We’ve tried so many tactics to get the attention of global leaders and policy makers, but so far the impact of animal agriculture remains ignored at COP26. So, we thought we’d try a more light-hearted approach to grab attention. Wouldn’t it be great if the Prime Minister or Scottish First Minister spotted our adverts and came to chat to us about the benefits of a vegan diet? Failing that, we can hope that Metro readers take note and make climate friendly dietary choices.”

The ads, which were designed by bwa for The Vegan Society, ran from 1 Nov – 13 Nov. Other Plate Up adverts also appeared on billboards and on bicycles around Glasgow City Centre.

Emotional Chris Packham slams ‘embarrassing’ treatment of planet during COP26 speech

Chris Packham: Chris became a Veganuary ambassador in 2018 and took part in Veganuary 2019. He joined the ever increasing number of Veganuary participants to stay vegan afterwards.

Chris Packham used his time on stage at The Vegan Society and bluedot #COP26 fringe event to slam the treatment of planet Earth as ‘bloody embarrassing’ before highlighting the importance of vegan diets.

The wildlife TV presenter and conservationist headlined an event at Glasgow’s Flying Duck venue which also included live performances from Liz Lawrence and Pleasure Pool. The aim of the event, in partnership with bluedot, was to raise awareness of the Society’s Plate Up for the Planet campaign.

While several nations have pledged to end deforestation, curb methane emissions, and stop public investment in coal power, world leaders failed to cover topics relating to veganism or a plant-based food system, and failed to acknowledge the harm to the environment caused by animal agriculture.

Addressing the sold-out crowd, a fiery Chris said “We’re just about to trash the earth, and it’s the only planet like it in our universe. How bloody embarrassing! In some ways it’ll be good if COP26 fails. Because that will motivate us to be more angry and act more.”

He was also met by cheers when highlighting the importance of fringe events, stating: “There’s a lot more energy and ability at fringe events than at the main event where they’ve built themselves in to ides of rigidity. If they don’t achieve anything in there, we will achieve things out here. We will hold them to account.”

Chris went on to emphasise the desperate need for plant-based diets to be in the spotlight – a message that The Vegan Society’s working to promote throughout COP26 with both public engagement activities, like a stand in Glasgow’s Buchanan Galleries, and panel events and discussions with policy leaders.

On our current food system, Chris commented: “We pay less for our food than any other country in terms of percentage of income. People can’t afford to eat properly, and we eat the wrong food. The labelling is so poor that we cannot make an informed choice. Red tractor labelling is entirely bogus. We can’t see how much our food has cost the environment.”

“Being vegan isn’t a one stop shop to ethical eating. It’s a very significant step in the right direction but we still have work to do.”

You can watch Chris Packham’s #COP26 Plate Up! talk in full, including details of his childhood growing up in nature and love of punk music, by heading to YouTube and/ or Facebook.

Want to find out more about The Vegan Society’s work at COP26? Read more at COP26 Hub & The Vegan Society website.

www.vegansociety.com

Francine Jordan from the Society expands on what was achieved at COP26

The Global Methane Pledge was another welcome announcement but there was nothing to address livestock as a key driver in agricultural emissions – there has been so much focus on other emitting sectors like oil and gas and yet policies which can support a shift in diet or even reduce agricultural emissions failed to get acknowledged. So it’s clear that there’s still a lot of progress to be made and instead of focusing on unproven technology and band aid solutions to meet our international climate obligations, we need to start addressing and investing in pathways that allow farmers to transition away from animal agriculture and start targeting methane as an aggregate issue instead of taking on a selective approach, given the significant contribution that livestock makes to this issue.

The reason why food and agriculture got some traction at COP was probably solely due to this reason – it highlights the power of grassroots activism and it’s clear that this is where the hope lies but systems change can only be enacted if it individuals and governments work

symbiotically to address the urgency of the problem that we’re facing.

It’s not that we’re lacking the solutions to address food and agriculture but there’s still so much reluctance to have that conversation in the first place. Plant-based policies can support mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions as well as adaptation and resilience. It also has it’s place in the climate financing agenda, with greater investment in the research & development of innovative crop protein production, and also in advancing action in built environments by supporting a shift to more sustainable diets through public procurement.

The Vegan Society will continue to push for change at governmental level. We used COP to secure promising meetings with high-level decision makers and raise awareness amongst policymakers of our work. Our next point of focus will be the National Food Strategy White Paper.

Pictured: The Vegan Society’s Sabrina Ahmed on a United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) side event panel in the Blue Zone

Of course, quite often there was more of an atmosphere on the streets of the City Centre, with music, marches and dances, than there was inside some of the official event spaces. You often couldn’t move for peaceful protests, flash mobs or groups of teenagers shouting passionately about what they want for the future through megaphones. TV presenter Chris Packham himself, while speaking at The Vegan Society’s event at the Flying Duck, also said that he noticed there was a lot more energy and ability at the fringe events. There were many occasions where you could feel the charge of the people, that was incredibly heartening. It made you feel more hopeful about what we can achieve together when we all have a shared goal in mind, regardless of what was going on internally or between government officials.

We can all do our bit to help. One of the most important things you can do is to help promote our message that veganism is one of the best things you can do for the environment. If you’re already vegan then that’s great, but you can get still involved by getting friends and family to check out The Vegan Society’s Plate Up for the Planet campaign and pledge to eat vegan for just 7 days - Plate Up for the Planet | The Vegan Society. You can also join The Vegan Society as a member – we could always do with more passionate, considerate and caring people getting behind our causes.