Fury over Cop27 'VIP' menu with £90 beef dish and bottomless booze

Fury as food menu for VIPs jetting to Cop27 features beef, chicken, fish and dairy products – along with bottomless cocktails for $125 – amid calls from eco-activists to cut down on meat to save the planet

• Menu for Blue Zone’s VIP restaurant shows £90 beef and £35 creamy salmon
• Delegates can also buy £110 package with bottomless cocktails for 90 minutes
• Menu has sparked fury from Animal Rebellion, who say it is a ‘slap in the face’ 

World leaders and delegates jetting into Egypt for the Cop27 climate conference will be able to dine out on £90 mushroom sauce covered beef medallions – and sip on fancy bottomless cocktails – while facing calls to cut down on meat consumption to save the planet.

Officials who land a spot at the conference’s exclusive VIP restaurant will be able to dine out on an array of pricey meat and fish dishes served up during the 12-day climate conference in Sharm el-Sheik this week.

Those with a taste for the luxurious can snap up a mushroom sauce covered angus beef medallion for a pricey $100 (£90) or a creamy salmon for $40 (£35), after scoffing back a $50 (£43) seafood platter for starter.

Delegates and world leaders looking for an after-dinner tipple can bag a $50 (£43) one-hour unlimited drinks package – including beer and red and white wines.

And those with a sweeter-tooth can pay as much as $125 (£110) for 90 minutes of bottomless cocktails – including fruit and rum punch, a classic margarita and a pina colada.

It comes as climate change activists continue to call for the world to cut down on meat and fish to save the planet, while at last year’s COP26 in Glasgow, the UK’s Chief Scientist Adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, called on people to adjust their meat eating and flying habits. 

One group, Animal Rebellion, which campaigns for animal and climate justice, described the menu as a ‘slap in the face’ – particularly in regards to the ongoing cost of living crisis. 

Nathan McGovern, who has volunteered with the charity for a year, told MailOnline: ‘These so called leaders are swanning off to Egypt and there’s no real action going to be taken, just lots of words.

World leaders and delegates jetting into Egypt for the Cop27 climate conference will be able to dine out on £90 mushroom sauce covered beef medallions – and sip on fancy bottomless cocktails – while facing calls to cut down on meat consumption to save the planet

Those with a taste for the luxurious can snap up a mushroom sauce covered angus beef medallion for a pricey $100 (£90) or a creamy salmon for $40 (£35), after scoffing back a $50 (£43) seafood platter for starter

Delegates and world leaders looking for an after-dinner tipple can bag a $50 (£43) one-hour unlimited drinks package – including beer and red and white wines

Officials who land a spot at the conference’s exclusive VIP restaurant will be able to dine out on an eye-opening array of pricey meat and fish dishes served up during the 12-day climate emergency conference in Sharm el-Sheik this week

‘The scientists are coming to the conclusion that we need to be switching from an animal-based diet to a plant based food system.

‘These world leaders need to look like they believe them. This just looks like do what I say and not what I do.’

Mr McGovern also took aim at the inclusion of foods such as salmon, which are found in the Atlantic thousands of miles from Egypt.

He said: ‘North Africa has some brilliant plant-based foods, like falafel and couscous, why do they need to ship in Salmon from the Atlantic?’

The luxurious menu is part of the VIP restaurant package in the area’s Blue Zone – where official negotiations take place.

In the restaurant, COP27 attendees can enjoy an a la carte menu featuring soup, starters, a main dish, desert and an additional hot and cold drinks package.

In total, across the Blue Zone there are four main coffee stations, a number of grab-and-go areas where delegates can pick up sandwiches and salads and food courts offering buffet style lunches and breakfasts.

The luxurious menu is part of the VIP restaurant package in the area’s Blue Zone – where official negotiations take place. Breakfast menus include an ‘Egg Station’ serving eggs ‘in any style’ as well as a savoury area with grilled sausages. Pictured: The breakfast menu

Breakfast menus include an ‘Egg Station’ serving eggs ‘in any style’ as well as a savoury area with grilled sausages

Breakfast menus include an ‘Egg Station’ serving eggs ‘in any style’ as well as a savoury area with grilled sausages.

Lunch menus include mini hamburgers, as well as vegetarian alternatives, crusted fish fillet, as well as more local dishes including tabbouleh.

There are also pricey drinks packages, including £125 cocktail bar deals which allow delegates to enjoy unlimited cocktails for up to 90 minutes, with a variety of snacks.

Delegates can also knock back unlimited beer and wine in the bars for one hour for £45, while a special Boudin-style tent has been set up to serve local teas and sweet treats.

The menus are all posted by Cop Gourmet, the provider of Cop27’s official catering provider, on the climate conference’s website.

But the menu choices have come under fire online, including by one Twitter user, who shared a picture of the VIP package.

They wrote: ‘Cop27 Food Menu – where they will decide you must eat less meat.

‘Here’s the VIP food menu for today. Very erm… meaty with a dash of dairy obvs!’

MailOnline has contacted Cop27 for a comment. It is not the first time the Cop menu has come under fire.

Last year, animal rights groups compared offering meat and dairy at the climate summit to ‘serving cigarettes at a lung cancer conference’.

The menu choices have come under fire online, including by one Twitter user, who shared a picture of the VIP package. They wrote: ‘Cop27 Food Menu – where they will decide you must eat less meat. ‘Here’s the VIP food menu for today. Very erm… meaty with a dash of dairy obvs!’

The Government promised the food served to delegates would be almost 60 percent meat and dairy based and sourced from Scottish farms.

But critics have pointed out that some of the dishes, including the burger and mozarella pizza, had a carbon footprint of 2.1 to 3.9kg Co2.

The menu’s lowest carbon options were meat free – including a kale and vegetable pasta dish which created just 0.3kg of carbon per serving.

At last year’s Glasgow Conference, the UK’s Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir Patrick Vallance, called for a push towards people eating less meat.

He said: ‘There will be a move away from the extent of meat eating we’ve seen in the past, and I think we will all need to think about our flying habits.

‘But of course, coupled to that, there’s also technological advances, so as options for green transport become real that will change again.

‘One of the climate challenge is it’s a series of small things from all of us that turn into a big change.

‘Those little things that appear like they’re not very much are important when they are aggregated across many many millions of people.’

Sunak joins COP27 summit with Sturgeon demanding ‘reparations’ to climate-change hit states and ministers refusing to rule out payments… but Boris warns UK can’t afford it 

Rishi Sunak joined the COP27 summit today urging a ‘global mission for clean growth’ – but is facing a growing row about ‘reparations’ to states hit by climate change.

The PM is in Egypt for the gathering – his first test on the foreign stage since entering No10 – having U-turned on his original decision not to attend.

But the event is promising to be tricky as developing countries demand payouts for extreme weather events caused by climate change – at the same time as the UK imposes swingeing austerity and tax rises at home.

Nicola Sturgeon – who has also jetted in for the summit – upped the pressure this morning, saying there is an ‘obligation’ on countries that industrialised first to help ‘deal with the impacts’. 

Rishi Sunak meets Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson during the Cop27 summit at Sharm el-Sheikh

Business Secretary Grant Shapps pointedly refused to rule out the idea, saying the UK is ‘supportive of discussions’ taking place at Sharm El-Sheikh.

However, former PM Boris Johnson told a fringe event that Britain ‘simply doesn’t have the financial resources’ to pay reparations and ‘no country does’.

While admitting that the UK had contributed vast carbon emissions, he argued that the focus should be on finding private investment and technological solutions. ‘Let’s look to the future,’ he added.

Mr Sunak could have an awkward encounter with his predecessor later, although the premier insisted there is ‘no hatchet to be buried’. 

Downing Street said Mr Sunak is looking to set the seal on last year’s Cop26 summit in Glasgow with more than £200million in UK funding to protect forests and invest in ‘green’ technologies.

Mr Sunak’s attendance at the gathering in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh alongside leaders such as US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron marks his first outing on the international stage since becoming PM last month.

In interviews yesterday, shadow climate secretary Ed Miliband stressed it would also be in Britain’s ‘self-interest’ to boost aid to developing countries.

But, while he highlighted both Pakistan and the Maldives as possible recipients of ‘loss and damage’ payments, he denied it would also see China handed cash.

Mr Miliband also shied away from describing payments to developing countries as ‘reparations’ for climate change damage, adding that ‘lots of people are allergic to the term ‘reparations”.

A debate over ‘loss and damage’ is expected to be a key issue at the Cop-27 summit, with developing countries having already made demands ahead of the Egypt gathering.

The G77+ China group of nations are also set to repeat their call for a dedicated financing facility for loss and damage. 

Ms Sturgeon said there was an ‘obligation’ on richer countries that have largely caused climate change to help those suffering the impact of it.

She told the BBC: ‘I think this Cop is an opportunity for the global north and the global south to come together and have a proper, grown-up conversation about how we make progress.

‘We’ve got to mitigate climate change, we’ve got to help countries adapt to the impacts of climate change, but as we’ve seen over the past year, not least in Pakistan, there are many parts of the world that are suffering loss and damage now that is irreversible and can’t be mitigated against.

‘There is an obligation in the spirit of solidarity for the richer countries that have largely caused climate change to now make a big effort to help those dealing with the impacts address that.’

However, the PM’s official spokesman said there was no question of ‘reparations’.

‘We are already helping countries across the world deal with the impacts of climate change and recognise the existential threat it poses to countries around the world from flooding to drought,’ the spokesman said.

‘That’s why we’ve made a commitment to these countries to support them on that front.

‘As we said over the weekend, we’re tripling funding for climate adaptation.

Rishi Sunak chats to Israel’s President Isaac Herzog at the COP27 summit in Egypt today

‘That’s from £500million to £1.5billion in 2025. And the Prime Minister is confirming £65million in funding for the Nature, People and Climate Investment Fund – that supports indigenous and local forest communities.

‘My understanding is that neither reparations or liabilities is what’s being discussed at Cop-27.

‘It’s about working together to support climate vulnerable countries as I set out.’

He added: ‘We’re not talking about reparations or liability we are talking about continuing to provide that support for countries to adapt to the impacts of climate change.’

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