Following Ovolo Hotels’ announcement that it’s ditching meat for an entire year, the company has been named People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ (PETA) 2020 Company of the Year and will receive a framed award certificate.
Ovolo announced the new policy in October, noting that all its hotels in Australia and Hong Kong would be meat-free for the next 12 months in an effort “to be conscious about what we are consuming and practice environmental sustainability as best we can”.
A recent comprehensive study found that by 2030, replacing just 10% of animal-derived foods with plant-based alternatives worldwide could prevent 176 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, free up 38 million hectares of land, and save 8.6 billion cubic metres of water each year.
“Ovolo Hotels’ progressive, animal-friendly policy is an example of a company living its values and contributing to a kinder world,” says PETA Senior Outreach and Partnerships Manager Emily Rice. “We’re proud to name Ovolo PETA’s Company of the Year and thank the company for sparking a nationwide conversation about the fact that ditching meat is the best thing that everyone can do for animals and the environment.”
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview – notes that a United Nations report concluded that a global switch to vegan eating is necessary to combat the worst effects of climate change. In addition, each vegan spares nearly 200 animals a year a terrifying death in the meat, egg, and dairy industries.
