Munich, Germany
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.
Since 2013, all 400 childcare centers//kindergartens in Munich have been required to serve meals without meat or fish three days a week. And not only are most meals vegetarian, but half of the overall food and 90% of the meat comes from organic sources.
This program in childcare centers has been so successful that the city is now trying it in 5 schools for older children as well. And Munich’s example is not just limited to schools – municipal canteens overall have 10% of their food coming from organic sources, with a goal of 20%.
Next steps: It’s clear the city of Munich is committed to more sustainable meals – why not extend the vegetarian meals to more public canteens and schools?
What’s next?
Our supporters are challenging cities to race to the top on meat reduction to protect our climate, forests, water and human health. On the path of reducing meat consumption and production by half by 2050, we’re asking/challenging cities to begin with two dedicated vegetarian meals in all public canteens weekly by 2020.
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.