Campaigners win right to challenge England’s food strategy over climate crisis

Ministers broke the law by failing to make plans to cut consumption of meat and dairy in England, activists will argue in a legal challenge after they were granted permission for a full judicial review of the government’s food strategy.

Overturning two previous decisions, the court of appeal ruled that the food systems campaigners Feedback could challenge the national food strategy on the basis that it failed to take into account ministers’ duties to cut carbon emissions.

The government had argued that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which drafted the strategy, was not bound by the obligations set out in the Climate Change Act 2008.

But Lord Justice Lindblom, leading a panel of three judges, said: “We have decided to grant permission to apply for judicial review, having in mind that the case does raise questions of considerable general importance.”

The Climate Change Committee has identified substantial reductions in meat and dairy consumption as being essential to tackle the climate emergency. But when the 27-page national food strategy was published…