The food menu at COP26 in Glasgow has left many incredulous, with some of it being decidedly not eco-friendly. 

The organisers of the biggest climate change conference in the world are being criticised for offering a menu featuring a hell of a lot of meat, dairy, and fish.

On the printed-out menu at the event, the carbon footprint of each food dish was included, in order to show attendees which dishes have the least poor impact on the environment.

Not all were happy though. Joel Scott-Halkes, the co-founder of U.K. environmental organisation Wild Card, compared the act of serving meat and fish at a climate change conference as “the equivalent of serving cigarettes at a lung cancer conference.”

“Only when governments grasp animal agriculture’s central role in the #climate crisis will we stand a chance of solving it,” he added.

“Animal agriculture is a major contributor to climate change shouldn’t the law societies take the lead by taking meat, fish and dairy off the menu at events?” said another person on social media.

The dish with the highest carbon footprint on the menu is haggis, neeps and tatties – an absolute Scottish classic – which produces the equivalent of 3.4kg of CO2. That was double the carbon footprint go the average U.K. meal of 1.7kg and almost seven times higher than the target of 0.5kg.

What was noticeable was just how much the CO2 amount drops with a plant-based meal: the vegetarian version of the haggis, keeps and tatties, for example, produces the equivalent of only 0.6kg of CO2.

The lowest carbon options were the plant-based ones. A kale and vegetable pasta dish generated just 0.3kg per serving, for example.

It’s not just the menu that’s been attracting attention at COP26. The high number of attendees travelling to Glasgow by plane was met with criticism, while Boris Johnson was also spotted not wearing a mask, even though he was sitting right beside 95-year-old British national treasure David Attenborough.

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