WeWork will stop serving meat at company events in effort to reduce environmental impact

The co-working startup WeWork says it will stop serving meat at company events in an effort to reduce its environmental impact.

The firm, which has shared workspace locations in 22 countries, informed employees in an email last week that in addition to not serving meat, it also will not reimburse workers for meals with meat.

The new policy, first reported by Bloomberg News, does not apply to fish products.

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Company co-founder Miguel McKelvey said in the staff memo that avoiding meat can have more of an impact on an individual’s carbon footprint than switching to a hybrid car.

The company is expected to save almost half a billion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, 16.6 billion gallons of water and more than 15.5 billion animals by 2023, according to Business Insider.

The move will affect offices in all of the company’s co-working spaces, as well as its company retreat. Employees are still permitted to bring their own food, and the memo suggested that exceptions may be made for employees with religious or medical requirements.

The move comes on the heels of several other major businesses and cities making green moves by eliminating the use of plastic straws. Most recently, Starbucks announced that it would stop distributing single-use plastic straws in all of its locations worldwide in an attempt to reduce plastic waste and cut down on ocean pollution.