At a full council meeting in Hackney on Wednesday 24 July local Stoke Newington London residents Lia Phillips and Louisa Hillwood delivered passionate speeches requesting a serious commitment from councillors to address food system impacts which account for one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Lia Phillips, Plant Based Treaty campaigner, invited Hackney Council to join 30 councils, including Edinburgh, Belfast, Norwich and Lambeth to endorse the call for a global Plant Based Treaty and implement a plant-based action plan to normalise and promote plant-based diets. Phillips said, “Plant Based Treaty are creating bottom-up pressure for world leaders to negotiate a global treaty that encourages a shift towards healthy plant-based diets. One way to create pressure is for cities to endorse our call for a Plant Based Treaty and work on local implementation of the best practices in plant-based food policy. This commitment could involve creating a local food strategy featuring initiatives such as carbon labelling, plant-based default options in schools, public education campaigns to reduce meat consumption and plant-based catering at council meetings and events.”

Louisa Hillwood, from an allied group, Plant-Based Councils, who are also calling for 100% plant-based catering at internal meetings council meetings, told councillors: “I grew up in Australia but my family is largely British – meat and dairy is huge in both cultures . . . But there came a point a few years ago when I was ready to acknowledge that I could choose food that was far better for the planet, for animals and for me. And I could, if I wanted, eat exactly the same types of foods as I was before. I could still shop at the same supermarkets, have meals with my family, and celebrate the holidays and traditions of my culture.”

Local residents who held a rally ahead of the meeting in support of Plant-Based Councils and Plant Based Treaty were heard clapping and cheering from the public gallery in support.

Councillor Coban, Hackney Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Environment and Transport, who will soon take up the role of Deputy Mayor of London for Environment and Energy at the London Assembly, responded positively to Phillips and Hillwood. He said that the council would have 100% plant-based catering by 2030.