“Many of the climate solutions on offer can only be achieved if implemented together and promoting plant-based diets is one solution that unlocks several others including reduced deforestation and less water and land use.”

One in three Brits think the government should promote vegan and plant-based diets to tackle the climate crisis.

The data comes after The Vegan Society surveyed 6,200 adults via consumer insight platform Attest to ask ‘what government officials should do about food and farming’ if UK wants to be ‘on the path to net-zero by 2050 and lead the way in tackling climate change globally’.

Survey findings

The Vegan Society survey found that 32 % supported efforts to promote plant-based diets and 61% of the 2,000 respondents who said they backed this approach said public awareness campaigns on the health and climate benefits of plant-based foods would come in handy.

60% said the government should mandate at least one plant-based, healthy meal on every public sector menu.

55% felt local farmers should be given financial incentives to grow more high protein crops, such as beans, nuts, and seeds, while 53% suggested helping farmers to transition out of animal farming.

51% also backed the initiative of offering plant-milk to children under government-funded public health schemes.

Last month, the Scottish Government agreed to include plant-based milk alternatives as part of its nursery milk scheme after the Society campaigned to remove ‘the inequality surrounding the favouring of animal milk, and the lack of choice or inclusion of plant milks’ for children who cannot consume cow’s milk due to medical, ethical or religious reasons.

The survey results align with the recently published global United Nations Development Programme survey on climate change where 81% of respondents from the UK said they believe that climate change is a global emergency, while 77% agreed we should do everything necessary and urgently.

‘Hugely positive for the vegan movement’

 “We believe this data is hugely positive for the vegan movement,” Louisianna Waring, Insight and Commercial Policy Officer, at The Vegan Society said.

“It is fantastic to see that 1 in 3 people in the UK are listening to the science on the impact of dietary choices.”

“Many of the climate solutions on offer can only be achieved if implemented together and promoting plant-based diets is one solution that unlocks several others including reduced deforestation and less water and land use.”

• Read: Nearly 4 in 10 Brits who have turned vegan/vegetarian admit they made the switch for their partner, new poll finds

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Mohsina Dodhiya

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