Eating plant-based is the tastiest solution to the climate crisis

Great success - The Climate Challenge continues!

Every year, we hold the Climate Challenge in collaboration with Greenpeace and Plantevækst. Normally, it is possible to sign up until mid-January, but this year, we have had such a high demand to continue that you can still sign up! Are you interested in sustainability, climate, and the environment? And are you interested in exploring whether a plant-based diet might be right for you? Then read on and get an insight into why you should sign up for the Climate Challenge 2023!

What is the Climate Challenge?

Thousands of people—both in Denmark and many other countries—start the year by challenging ingrained habits and replacing animal products such as meat and milk with plants. And that makes a difference to the climate. Eating a plant-based diet is actually the single action that can reduce your climate and environmental footprint the most.

At the same time, eating plant-based food is both delicious and healthy. That is why Greenpeace is organizing the Climate Challenge in collaboration with Dyrenes Alliance Plantevækst here in January.

The Climate Challenge is a helpful and inspiring resource for anyone who wants to eat greener. When you sign up, you will receive daily emails for 22 days with meal plans, recipes, challenges, and information about nutrition, the environment, and climate. And we know from previous participants that the new food experiences will also lead to greener eating habits once the challenge is over.

What difference does our food make to the climate?

The production of farm animals accounts for almost one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions and occupies 83 percent of the planet's agricultural land. In fact, the production of farm animals takes up so much space that it is equivalent to the entire land area of North and South America combined!

But even though farm animals take up so much space, they only provide the global population with 18 percent of the calories and 37 percent of the protein in our diet.

If the entire world population ate a sustainable diet, known as the Planetary Health Diet, and we simultaneously halved global food waste, we could free up 60 percent of agricultural land globally.

Just think of all the forests and nature we could make room for. Not only would this make a huge difference to the climate, but also to the planet's hard-pressed biodiversity.

Species are becoming extinct at such a rate these days that scientists are talking about a sixth mass extinction—a phenomenon that last occurred when the dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago. So it is really high time that we, especially in a country like Denmark, start taking the plunge and replacing the meat on our plates with legumes and vegetables.

The Danes hold a sad record

Denmark ranks at the very top both globally and in Europe when it comes to climate emissions from our food. This is a sad record to hold when we are in the midst of an acute climate crisis.

Two years ago, this prompted the authorities to update the Danish dietary guidelines, which are now quite similar to the Planetary Health Diet—albeit adapted to Danish eating habits, which is particularly reflected in a higher recommended intake of dairy products.

The recommendation is now a maximum of 350 grams of meat per week, with Danes particularly advised to cut down on their consumption of beef and pork. The Climate Council has calculated that if everyone in Denmark follows the dietary guidelines, we can save the climate from up to 3.9 million tons of CO2. This is equivalent to driving a diesel car from Copenhagen to Paris almost 20 million times.

Many people want to change their eating habits

However, we are still a long way from achieving this goal, as the average Dane currently eats three times more meat than recommended—and more than twice the global average. And even though more and more Danes support limiting meat consumption, they find it difficult to make the change.

There are many barriers standing in the way. Not least habits and what is perceived as normal in the social contexts we are part of.

If you are one of the many people who would like to eat less meat and dairy products and try new ingredients such as legumes, then the Climate Challenge may be just what you need to get started.

Our goal with the Climate Challenge is not to make everyone vegan, but to give you inspiration, new knowledge, and hopefully new favorite dishes, so that you can more easily give plants a much bigger place in your kitchen in the future.

I hope you want to join us!