Cannes Film Festival bans beef to cut carbon footprint

The Cannes Film Festival has banned beef in an effort to be more environmentally friendly − as A-list stars fly in to southern France from across the globe.

Stars hoping for a steak on the Riviera will be disappointed, after a policy shift led to a reduction of meat on its menus.

Beef has been totally banned by Cannes bosses to reduce the festival’s carbon footprint, as meals and cocktail party canapes are shifted towards vegetarian options. The eco-friendly reform comes despite many celebrities flying in and the controversial use of helicopters to transport some stars to the festival’s headquarters for red carpets.

In a list of environmental guidelines for this year’s event, the festival says: “For the meals and cocktail receptions that it organises, the Festival de Cannes is committed to increasing the number of vegetarian options and to no longer serving beef, which is the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions.”

The festival has cited research showing that beef production results in 4.5 times more greenhouse gas emissions than white meat, so a ban was agreed as an “effective and acceptable way of reducing the carbon impact of food”.

Parties are frequent at the lavish festival − this year attended by luminaries including Adam Driver, Emma Stone, Francis Ford Coppola and Greta Gerwig − but its catering has undergone a radical shift.

The latest reform comes after a number of efforts to make the glamorous event more environmentally friendly, including reducing the size of the red carpet, changing it less regularly and making sure goodie bags handed out to celebrities are composed of predominantly local products rather than from overseas.

However, celebrities continue to arrive in private jets, and the bay at Cannes is filled with yachts of the wealthy coming to enjoy the festival.

(© Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2024)