Public facilities in Aarhus, Denmark may soon be required to offer vegan meal options to help meet the country’s climate change goals.
The majority of city council members in Aarhus, Denmark support a motion to make vegan food an option at all public institutions, including nursing homes and pre-school daycare centers. Under the proposal, city-run institutions would be mandated to offer a vegan option but would still be permitted to serve meals with meat and dairy. Councilors believe serving plant-based meals is an important step in the city’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030. “Meat plays a major role in climate considerations so we naturally want to make a statement as a municipality by offering our residents plant-based food,” Aarhus City Councillor Liv Gro Jensen told media outlet Politiken. Governments around the world are considering legislation that places emphasis on plant-based meal options. Earlier this year, California passed legislation that mandates state facilities such as nursing homes, prisons, and hospitals must provide at least one plant-based option. The city council of Berkeley, CA recently passed a resolution that requires all city-run institutions to provide only vegan food one day each week. And in Canada, citizens have formed a Vegan Option Canada lobby group that aims to amend the country’s laws to provide vegan meal options in all public facilities.