Vacherin believes every single caterer and foodservice business can make a contribution, which when combined can make a significant collective impact.
To make its contribution, the caterer has launched its 2016 marketing campaign, titled ‘The Vital Ingredient, Naturally’ and includes components designed to raise awareness of how much meat or dairy products can be found in dishes - and encourage people who want to consciously reduce their intake, signposting more sustainable dining options.
Anthony Kingsley, Vacherin’s lead on sustainability and CSR, said: “We have to address the elephant in the room, and in this case, it’s not an elephant - it’s a cow! We need to get serious about food - the agricultural and livestock industry is the second largest greenhouse gas emitter after the energy industry. Everyone involved in food can help do something about this.
“Either we can continue as before, or we can make a change today, and begin growing healthier food and making more sustainable food choices. For example, you do not have to eliminate meat from your diet, but simply by moving from a higher to a lower meat eating diet, you can reduce you’re greenhouse gas emissions output by nearly 1tonne of CO2e every year – the same as driving a car 3,001miles.”
COP21 has reached a global agreement on reduction of climate change which was adopted by acclamation by nearly all states. The goal of the agreement is to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius and is expected to take effect in 2020, should the agreement be ratified.
Kingsley added: “Climate change has reached a tipping point, and if we don’t act now, we will face a very different future, in our lifetimes. Agricultural and food systems - from farm to fork to bin - make a huge contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions. Addressing this can be mutually beneficial to society and to businesses. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger says we should eat less meat!”