Office-sharing company WeWork, which operates in 22 countries, is going meat-free and will ban its 6,000 staff from expensing meals containing meat in a bid to "leave a better world for future generations".
Environmentalists say livestock farming is a major contributor to global warming. Here are some facts:
- Livestock accounts for more than 14 percent of planet warming emissions, mainly from animal burping, manure and feed production.
- Production of animal-based foods accounts for two-thirds of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and three-quarters of agricultural land use, while only contributing 37 percent of the global protein supply.
- If cattle were a nation, they would rank third behind China and the United States among the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters.
- The livestock industry is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the world's biggest oil companies
- The combined emissions of the top 20 meat and dairy companies exceed the emissions of entire countries such as Germany or the United Kingdom.
- A quarter of the world's landmass, excluding Antarctica, is used for pasture.
- Cattle release methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide. Methane, which traps far more heat than carbon dioxide, is released mainly through belching.
- Scientists are looking at how to make livestock less gassy by breeding animals that burp less or adjusting their diets - including feeding them seaweed.
- If the 2 billion biggest consumers of meat in the world shifted towards plant-based foods, it could save an area twice the size of India, making it easier to feed a growing world population without cutting down more forests.
- It takes 25kg of grain to produce 1kg of beef and roughly 15,000 litres of water.