- Gourmet food options from vendors serving beef are available at the UN’s COP28 climate summit in Dubai.
- The FAO will release its first-ever global food systems road map.
- A realistic and significant response to climate change is not to reduce the amount of beef consumed in the US.
Though a report is being prepared that is expected to advocate for a reduction in the West’s beef consumption, gourmet food options from vendors serving beef are available at the United Nations COP28 climate summit in Dubai.
Meat options at the summit include “slabs of succulent meat,” “juicy beef,” Philly cheesesteaks, smoked wagyu burgers, and “melt-in-your-mouth BBQ,” according to their online portal. The news coincides with criticism leveled at the United Nations for working on a groundbreaking report that will advocate for less meat consumption at the summit.
UN climate summit
During the upcoming COP28 meeting, the Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) will release its first-ever global food systems road map. It is anticipated that this document will advise countries that “over-consume meat” to restrict their meat intake as part of a larger initiative to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
The United Nations has urged people to give up diets based on animals because they “have a high impact on our planet.” Approximately one-third of the food vendors at COP28 offer meat options, despite the U.N.’s repeated calls for people to switch to plant-based diets and the recommendations of the upcoming FAO report.
According to the summit, that number signifies a success in terms of its mission to provide tasty, nourishing, socially conscious, and ecologically sustainable food and drink.
Ahead of the FAO’s report on the global food systems roadmap, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), which advocates for American beef producers, also attacked the U.N., citing the sector’s somewhat low carbon footprint.
Reduced meat consumption is a misguided solution that will only result in fewer options for consumers and higher food costs, according to Ethan Lane, Vice President of Government Affairs at NCBA. A realistic and significant response to climate change is not to reduce the amount of beef consumed in the United States.
Rather, artificial barriers to protein consumption that will not address the world‘s climate problems should be placed in place, as America’s beef producers and consumers deserve worldwide.