When delegates at COP26 sit down to eat, they’d better choose carefully. Back in Poland in 2018, some 30,000 attendees munched their way through a meat and dairy-laden menu. Every plate of fried beef, pork and burgers consumed in Katowice at COP24 helped contribute several thousand tonnes of greenhouse gases over the 12-day conference, campaigners say.
Food production accounts for a third of global emissions today, and we’re running out of water, land, and time. Business as usual in the Glasgow food courts won’t help the world meet the 1.5°C target. Campaigners and food and farming groups all have an opinion about what international delegates should be eating. “We’ll only achieve net zero if we fundamentally transform food systems,” say campaigners Nourish Scotland in a joint letter.
Food tech has a role to play as the population grows and the planet warms – it’s transforming the sector, boosting efficiency, cutting packaging, limiting waste.
What should...