The project, subject to the vote of elected officials on Tuesday, May 31, and which must be implemented by 2027, lacks a bit of ambition, according to environmentalists.
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Mexican shells, broccoli gratin, vegetable chili and boulgour … In Paris, vegetarian menus will become more and more frequent in municipal canteens. During her first mandate, Anne Hidalgo had established a vegetarian meal per week in the 1,300 collective restaurants managed by the city. Since the climate and resilience law of 2021, the system has become compulsory throughout France. With her red-Rose-Vert majority, the socialist mayor now wants to go a notch further and impose “at least” two weekly vegetarian meals on all users by 2027. She also wants “alternatives vegetarian “are offered on other days.
The project, integrated into a large sustainable food plan, spread over five years, is subject, this Tuesday, May 31, to the vote of the Paris Council. He marks the will of the Parisian elected officials to act concretely to slow down climate change, while Anne Hidalgo is often accused of making contradictory decisions with her great ecological speeches.
The measure should not raise enormous controversy, especially since the municipal council has no representative of meat professionals. “It is a good project both for health, for the environment and for public finances,” argues Audrey Pulvar, Anne Hidalgo’s assistant in charge of food. Eating less meat is supposed to reduce the risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease or cancer. For the town hall of Paris, it is above all a question of reducing in a fairly painless way the greenhouse gas emissions which contribute to reheating the climate. “And as it costs less, we have a room for maneuver to buy better quality foods,” adds Audrey Pulvar.
“in the right direction”
According to the Environment and Energy Management Agency, food represents Near D ‘A quarter of the carbon footprint of French households, and the consumption of meat is concerned in the first place. Increase the number of vegetarian meals therefore clearly reduces environmental impacts. If the canteens only served dishes of this type, their greenhouse gas emissions would fall by 61 %, shows a study of the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE), published at the end of March. However, such a violent turn would deteriorate the quality of meals. According to INRAE, the “best compromise” therefore consists in providing three vegetarian meals per week, and to do without red meat for the other two, offering fish once and once white meat. This could “halve the greenhouse gas emissions from school meals by maintaining their good nutritional quality”.
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