Green campaigners say the government 'had a duty' to adopt measures to reduce meat production and consumption
Environmental activists are taking the government to court over its 'failure' to adopt measures to reduce meat and dairy production and consumption.
Green campaigners have taken the government to the Court of Appeal for a judicial review, taking place on 6 and 7 November.
Feedback, which calls itself a food systems campaign group, said the government 'had a duty' to introduce the measures in order to meet climate targets.
It added that tackling emissions from the food and farming sector was 'key' for the government to meet them.
A spokesperson said: "We believe the government had a duty to adopt measures to reduce meat and dairy production and consumption in its Food Strategy published in June 2022.
"Advice from the independent body, the Climate Change Committee, states that reductions in meat and dairy consumption are essential to meeting the net zero target.
"This should have been taken into account, or at the very least reasons for rejecting that advice (as the government did) ought to have been given."
According to Feedback, the government's Food Strategy neither addressed the emissions impact of meat and dairy, nor put in place policies for their mitigation.
Carina Millstone, executive director of Feedback, said the government must adopt measures to slash meat and dairy consumption to "avoid climate and environmental breakdown."
"We are confident our judicial review will establish that the government has a legal responsibility to put in place policies to reduce emissions in the food and farming sector.
"We trust it will compel the government to act on the advice of its own climate experts, who have said time and time again that meat and dairy reductions are required if we are to meet our legally enshrined climate targets.
"We hope that our case will be the high-water mark for the government’s disregard and denial of the measures it must urgently adopt."