People and food companies are signing up to support a diet that’s good for the planet, with two weeks to go to the first ever Climatarian Week. 

Restaurants, food delivery services, caterers and grocers have registered to promote dishes and ingredients that are gentle on the climate, while individuals are pledging to go climatarian for the week or to host a climatarian meal for friends or family.

The aim of Climatarian Week, from 3rd to 9th July 2017 is to highlight the impact that food has on the climate and show how easy it is to cut our carbon emissions through our food choices.

Climatarians are people who eat with the climate in mind. Climatarian foods include pork, poultry, dairy, fruit, vegetables and sustainably sourced fish. Seasonal, local and organic fruit and veg are the most climate friendly, low carbon options while beef and lamb have the highest climate impact. Eating less meat overall and preventing food waste can reduce your footprint even further. High-welfare, free-range, organic, grass fed and unprocessed meat helps to limit other health and climate impacts.

People in the UK can save a tonne of CO2e a year by making everyday meals climatarian. That is roughly equivalent to halving the average UK driver’s mileage, but much easier to do.

Companies celebrating the week and helping people to source climate friendly meals and produce around the country include:

Restaurants: the Gladwin Brothers’ The Shed, Notting Hill, Rabbit, Chelsea, Nutbourne, Battersea; Tom Hunt’s, Poco Tapas Bar, Bristol; The Gallivant, East Sussex; The Bangkok Canteen, Gloucester; The Table Café, Southwark.

Caterers: The Catering Company, Dublin; Eden Caterers, Waterloo, London.

Grocers and delivery services: The Mindful Chef recipe box service; As Nature Intended, London; The Organic Food Store, Romiley, Manchester; Skylark Organics, Hertfordshire; Growing With Nature, Lancashire; Wild Oats, Bristol; Growing Communities, London; The Health Store, Dundee; Guilden Gate, Hertfordshire; Barnett Wholefoods, Liverpool; Oxton Organics, Worcestershire; Half Moon Health Foods and Food Therapy, Yorkshire.

The week is organised by Climates Network, a social network for people who want to take action in their own lives to reduce climate impacts. Partners supporting the week are Australian-based Less Meat Less Heat, which also promotes a climatarian diet, Women’s Environmental Network, motion graphic designer Jennifer Godden and Dublin-based, The Catering Company. The Week is funded by the Golden Bottle Trust.

Biba Hartigan, Climates Director and founder of Climatarian Week, said, “With two weeks to go until the first ever Climatarian Week it is good to see restaurants and food retailers getting behind it - making it even easier for people to find delicious climate-friendly food. Our site is up and running at www.climatarianweek.com for people to join in, find tasty recipes and cut their carbon emission in a fun and nourishing way.”

Oliver Gladwin of Gladwin Brothers is offering a special dish for Climatarian Week. He said, “For Climatarian week, we want to make more people aware of the incredible range of British wild foods that are found right under our noses, and better yet some even for free! Me and my brothers grew up on a farm in Sussex and in our house we refused to eat vegetables out of season because they must have travelled round the world to get here – not the best way to respect the planet.  Foraging for food is a way to further appreciate and engage with the environment around us and to respect nature for what it gives us.  Our aim with this special vegetarian dish is to use British wild ingredients such as nettles, wood sorrel etc. in an inventive way and hopefully take a small step to reduce the global carbon footprint.”

Climates Network launched the climatarian diet in 2015, based on sound scientific research that shows that food is responsible for 24% of global greenhouse gas emissions and that beef and lamb have five times more impact than pork or poultry. While a vegan diet is the most climate friendly, recent research has shown that despite our environmental concerns, the majority of us are not prepared to go vegan or vegetarian.  The climatarian diet is a realistic solution to a real problem. It is designed to be easy and effective, offering a way for people to help cut UK greenhouse gas emissions by 10% or more without really altering their lifestyle.