The UN praises MAX and climate positive
On September 26, the UN announced that the Swedish family company MAX Burgers is one of the winners of this year's Global Climate Action Award and the only European company in the category "Go Climate Neutral Now". MAX is praised for its work with climate positive, which is highlighted as a solution for the climate that works for other companies to follow.
The initiative behind the award is Momentum for Change, which is part of the work of Global Climate Action within the UN Climate Change Secretariat. From this year's record number of nominations, 15 award winners were selected. All winning projects will be featured on several occasions during the second week of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Santiago, Chile in December.
- This year, we had over 670 incredible applications for the UN Global Climate Action Award,” says Niclas Svenningsen, Manager of the UN Climate Change Global Climate Action Programme. It is our pleasure to award MAX Burgers. Their world first “climate positive” menu serves as a beacon, guiding us towards a more sustainable future for all.
- By empowering customers to better understand the climate impact of their food, MAX Burgers is leading the way when it comes to measuring, reducing and offsetting their carbon footprint – providing a shining example of a highly replicable climate solution, Svenningsen concludes.
According to the UN, climate change is the greatest systematic threat to humanity. Climate positive follows the same fundamental change strategy as the Paris Agreement and is about both reducing its emissions and capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which is required to meet the global 1.5 degree target. Climate positive goods and services would make it easier for consumers to make better choices for the climate.
- This is a very important recognition for our climate work, says Christoffer Bergfors, Vice President of MAX Burgers. From the owner family of MAX we are extremely proud and hope to inspire more companies to become climate positive.
In 2008, MAX became the world's first restaurant chain to climate-label the menu and compensate for all emissions to 100 percent from the farmer's land to the guest's hand. In 2016, the number of vegetarian options on the menu was five-fold, and the goal is to increase the share of food with low climate impact that will lead to a 30 percent reduction of emissions in seven years. This is all in line with the United Nations climate goals. MAX launched in June 2018 that their entire menu is climate positive.
- I cannot imagine a more powerful award for our climate work than what we are now receiving from the UN. This strengthens not only us, but also the growing movement of climate-positive companies. The next step is to work for a global standard for climate positive, says Kaj Török, Chief Reputations and Chief Sustainability Officer at MAX Burgers.
