The Belgian city of Ghent is set to become the first city in the world to become vegetarian for at least one day every week.
The new policy involves a regular weekly meatless day, where civil servants and elected councillors will eat vegetarian meals, hoping to encourage the public to do the same.
A new veggie-day will be incorporated into schools in September to help school children realise the importance of the environment.
The policy hopes to highlight the impact of livestock on the environment and it is no coincidence that the weekly veggie-day has been declared after figures from the UN show that livestock is responsible for nearly one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Ghent’s vegetarian policy will help to cut the city’s environmental footprint and officials also say that it will help to tackle obesity.
As part of the new plan, 90,000 veggie street maps are being printed to help people find the best vegetarian eateries in the city.
