Malmo, Sweden
First Mover!*
First Movers are cities, local governments, or public institutions (like universities, schools or hospitals) that have at least one meal per week that is completely dedicated to vegetarian foods. This is often alongside other great programs like public education and organic sourcing, but the main criteria is having at least one dedicated vegetarian meal or day per week.
Malmo, Sweden is a real trailblazer when it comes to offering its 38,000 schoolchildren delicious, plant-based school meals. Each week, there is one day when all meal options are vegetarian – and on the the other days, there’s always a vegetarian option. Malmo has some big goals: it wants to reduce its food-related greenhouse gas emissions 40%, and have 100% organic ingredients in public canteens, both by the year 2020.
To achieve this, the city has engaged in a comprehensive education program with school restaurant staff, covering nutritional and environmental benefits, plant-based menu planning, and – this is important! – how to cook food that is both healthy and delicious.
What’s next?
Malmo could really ramp up its efforts – and get closer to its ambitious goals – by having one more dedicated vegetarian day per week in its schools. Its children will be healthier and they’ll be one step closer to a greener city.
Greenpeace’s global challenge:
Our supporters are challenging cities to race to the top on meat reduction to protect our climate, forests, and water. We aim to have at least 50 cities commit to serving two vegetarian meals (no meat or dairy options) in all public canteens weekly by the end of 2019. We expect to have at least 100 global cities make this or a greater commitment toward less and better meat and more plant-rich meals by 2020.