Every year we organise the Climate Challenge in cooperation with Greenpeace and Plantevækst. Normally, it's possible to sign up until mid-January - but this year, we've had such high demand to continue - so 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 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 - in Denmark and many other countries - are starting the year by challenging ingrained habits and replacing animal products like meat and milk with plants. And it's making a difference to the climate. Because eating plant-based is actually the single action that can reduce your climate and environmental footprint the most.

At the same time, eating plant-based is both delicious and healthy. That's why Greenpeace is organising the Climate Challenge in cooperation with Dyrenes Alliance and Plantevækst this January.

The Climate Challenge is a help and inspiration for those who want to eat greener. When you sign up, you will receive daily emails for 22 days with meal plans, recipes, challenges and knowledge about nutrition, the environment and climate. And we know from previous participants that the new food experiences will also mean greener eating habits once the challenge is over.

What difference does our food make to the climate?

Farm animal production accounts for nearly a fifth of global climate gas emissions and occupies 83 percent of the world's agricultural land. In fact, farm animal production takes up so much land that it's equivalent to the whole of North and South America combined!

But even though farm animals are so incredibly important, they only provide the global population with 18% of the calories and 37% of the proteins in our diet.

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

Just think of all the forest and nature we could create space for. Not only would it make a huge difference to the climate, but also to the planet's struggling biodiversity.

Species are going extinct at a rate that has led scientists to talk of a sixth mass extinction - a phenomenon that last happened when dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago. Especially in a country like Denmark, it's about time, that we start to take the fork in the other hand and replace the meat on our plate with pulses and vegetables.

Danes have a boring record

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

Two years ago, this prompted the authorities to update the Danish dietary guidelines, so that they are now quite close to the Planetary Health Diet - although adapted to Danish eating habits, which is reflected in a higher recommended amount of dairy products.

The recommendation is now for a maximum of 350 grams of meat a week, with Danes cutting back on beef and pork in particular. And the Danish Climate Council has calculated that if everyone in Denmark follows the dietary advice, we could save the climate up to 3.9 million tonnes of CO2. That's the equivalent of driving a diesel car almost 20 million times from Copenhagen to Paris.

Many want to change the way they eat

However, we are far from the target, as the average Dane today eats three times more meat than recommended - and well over twice the world average. And although more and more Danes are supporting the idea of reducing meat consumption, they are finding it hard to make the change.

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

If you're one of the many who want to eat less meat and dairy and try new ingredients like pulses, the Climate Challenge might be just what you need to get started.

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

I hope you'll join us!