The Danish government recently announced the world’s first ever national action plan for shifting its population towards plant-based diets in order to radically reduce the country's climate footprint.
Under the radical policy, a new action plan will be published every year focusing on the most pressing priorities in combination with an overarching, multi-year strategy including government spending for what’s known as the Plant-Based Food Grant, in an effort to make the nation’s food systems more sustainable for the planet. Other nations are taking note and some are following in its path.
“Plant-based foods are the future,” said Jacob Jensen, Denmark’s Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, in October. “If we want to reduce the climate footprint within the agricultural sector, then we all have to eat more plant-based foods.” The UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization estimates that meat and dairy account for about 14.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, but in Denmark that figure is nearer 33 percent due to the relative size of its agriculture sector.
The Danish government has three primary objectives: to increase demand for plant-based foods, to develop supply for plant-based foods, and to improve how all the different stakeholders - from scientists to farmers and chefs, food sociologists, and nutrition experts - in this nascent domestic industry are working together.
Danish authorities see reducing meat and dairy consumption as key to reaching its goal of cutting carbon emissions by 70 percent before 2030 (compared to 1990). The climate think tank Concito estimates that more than half of Denmark’s land is used for farming and that agriculture accounts for about a third of its carbon emissions.
A major study published in 2021 found that the emissions made by producing plant-based foods are roughly half the amount incurred by meat production - which advocates say underlines the massive cuts that can be achieved by adapting diets.
The Danes are not expected - at least initially - to cut out meat and dairy entirely. That's why the country made a significant pledge earlier this year - Denmark's Bovine Bet - agreeing to help farmers finance a feed additive that is expected to reduce methane emissions from cattle by up to 30 percent, as part of the country's efforts to meet ambitious climate goals.
These are both very hot topics and we can expect similar initiatives to play out around the world.
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