City festivals, shelters trim beef and add veggies for the climate

Creamy kale Caesar salad and Ghanaian red red stew are among the new dishes clients were invited to try at a Toronto shelter this fall.

It's a step toward meeting the city's Coolfood Pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions from its food purchases by 25 per cent by 2030 relative to 2019 levels.

The United Nations estimates about a third of human-caused greenhouse gases is linked to food. (The rest is mostly from burning fossil fuels.) 

So as part of their plans to fight climate change, cities around the world and across Canada are committing to provide less carbon-intensive meats and more plant-based foods through services such as shelters, day cares and community centres, as well as at events such as festivals.

Canadian cities and towns that have made a commitment to promote plant-based foods include Montreal, Rainbow Lake, Alta., and several Ontario communities, such as Kingston, Brampton and Toronto.

James Nowlan, executive director of Environment, Climate and Forestry for the City of Toronto, said food emissions are the largest source of "indirect" emissions in Toronto — those not produced directly by burning fossil fuels for things like heat and transportation.

The local government serves about 3,200 tonnes of food a year through its shelters, child care centres and its senior and long-term care homes.

"It touches a lot of residents," Nowlan said. "But it also enables us to show leadership to demonstrate how others can reduce their emissions."

The city council for nearby Brampton, Ont., passed a motion this past November that commits to developing a plant-based food strategy. It includes featuring plant-based food and drink options at city council meetings and civic events; requiring plant-based catering options at events in city spaces such as parks; looking into plant-based food options and plant-based default food options in city facilities and during regional events; and raising awareness about sustainable food practices.

Coun. Navjit Kaur Brar, who brought the motion forward, said many people in her community are vegetarian or vegan, including herself.

"I think making sure that we are providing and catering to that community is also important," she said.

There was already a growing local interest in plant-based and healthier food options, especially among young people and the aging population, she said. "This is for us to kind of bring it up a notch and just make [people] more aware that there are plant-based options and how it can impact our environment and health."

In addition to setting a food emissions target, Toronto — alongside London, Tokyo and around a dozen other major cities — signed the C40 Good Food Cities Declaration. It commits to specific policies, including aligning food procurement to the Planetary Health Diet, a plant-heavy, low-meat diet endorsed by a committee of scientists as healthy and sustainable.

Toronto started by analyzing greenhouse gas emissions from the food it served. It found that beef made up just three per cent of the food it purchased by weight, but 48 per cent of the city's food emissions.