David Yeung, co-founder of the vegan food chain Green Common and the Green Mondays campaign in Hong Kong, recently spoke at the Sustainable Foods Summit in Singapore about the negative consequences of continued high meat consumption in Asia. He drew attention to the catastrophic environmental consequences of animal product consumption.
“The combination of climate change, food insecurity and health problems means that we are at a very critical stage in the history of the planet,” Yeung said. “If we do nothing, we will move the boundaries and no one knows how that will affect us. If we continue to consume as we do now, our food system and our ecosystem will collapse.”
According to Yeung, the more than 1.5 billion livestock cows in the world emit more carbon dioxide than the world’s most populous countries combined. This assessment is also confirmed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which found that the livestock industry produces more greenhouse gases than the transport sector as a whole.
David Yeung wants to drive the vegan market in Asia and promote vegan diets. His Green Common retail chain carries a wide range of innovative plant-based products. Companies such as Beyond Meat and JUST have also entered the Asia-Pacific market through Green Common.
