Asian leads meat-free drive

AN ASIAN student is among a group from the University of Oxford student union who is leading a campaign for a meat-free campus with a view to reducing the university’s greenhouse emissions.

Worcester College student Vihan Jain joined two fellow students to draft a motion mandating the student union to lobby for a ban on beef and lamb in university catering services, which was recently passed with 31 votes to 9 and 13 abstentions. “As the UK’s premier university, the nation looks to Oxford for leadership, but Oxford has shown a lack of leadership in addressing climate change,” read the motion.

“The banning of beef and lamb at university-catered events and outlets is a feasible and effective strategy to help the university meet its revised 2030 goal,” it added.

The move means the student union will now lobby the university and individual colleges to move towards meat reduction and eventual removal from campus.

Responding to criticism that the beef and lamb ban could affect the local economy,

Jain told the The Oxford Student publication that “alternative food offerings can be sourced from local enterprises and can contribute to the local economy, but ‘eat local’ can be a deceptive piece of advice”.

Reducing the carbon emissions and biodiversity impact of the university’s food system is one of the nine priority areas of the university’s environmental sustainability strategy.

The strategy’s goal is to achieve net zero carbon by 2035.

“The university is currently consulting on a draft sustainability strategy which will be approved next year and includes proposals to reduce the carbon and ecological impact of the food it supplies. These policies will be further developed in the light of the consultation response,” a spokesperson for Oxford University said.

The University of Cambridge has banned beef and lamb and reported a 33 per cent reduction in carbon emissions per kilogram of food purchased and a 28 per cent reduction in land use per kilogram of food that is purchased.