More than 1,250,000 animals lives were estimated to have been saved this January by people taking part in Veganuary.
Veganuary – a global organization, which encourages people to sign a pledge to try a vegan diet in January and beyond – used The Vegan Society’s Veganalyser calculations to come up with this number.
The charity said: “This is the incredible impact Veganuary can have on the lives of so many animals, in just one month.”
Environment
In addition, the organization used statistics compiled by environmental researcher Joseph Poore to show that if 350,000 people worldwide went vegan for January 2020 it would save 41,200 tonnes of CO2eq from the atmosphere, 160 tonnes of PO43-eq (eutrophication) from waterways, and 2.5 million litres of water, which is enough water to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
When these calculations were made, the charity’s 2020 target of 350,000 was used. In fact, Veganuary surpassed this number significantly, with more than 402,000 people signing the pledge, meaning the final data outweighed these environmental expectations.
‘Exceeded our expectations’
Veganuary itself was surprised by the number of people taking part, admitting that the success of its 2020 initiative exceeded all expectations.
Veganuary’s Head of Communications Toni Vernelli said: “With the link between animal farming and the climate crisis making headlines nearly every day we expected Veganuary 2020 to be the biggest yet, but it exceeded all of our expectations.
“We applaud everyone who took part and encourage them to continue eating vegan food as often as possible. And we’re grateful to all of the businesses embracing Veganuary and making it easier for more people to eat more plant-based food more often. Together we are making an enormous difference for animals and the planet.”
You can find out more about Veganuary and its year-round pledge here