The 50by40 Corporate Outreach Summit, organised by ProVeg International and the Humane Society of the US, took place April 27 – 29 in Berlin. Participants at the conference were united by the ‘50by40’ objective, which is the global ambition to reduce the production of animal products internationally by 50% by the year 2040. This goal is in line with (though slightly more ambitious than) the goals of organisations like Greenpeace, WWF and Compassion in World Farming, who have similar objectives.

The summit was organised to get a large group of organisations in the vegan and animal rights movement together, and to build an international alliance to collaborate on achieving this goal. The motto of the conference was, “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together”. The summit brought together 160 people, from over 30 different countries and 6 continents. 33 expert speakers presented their latest work on creating institutional change.

Margaret Mead once said: “’Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” This summit was about bringing those committed changemakers together, to learn from and be inspired by each other. Our initial feedback is, that not only did people bring home the latest professional ideas on creating institutional change, they also brought home a renewed perseverance and shared horizon of optimism, which is crucial to achieving the kind of change our movement is ultimately aimed at.

More information: Collaborating to change the world’s diet – a report from the 50by40 Corporate Outreach Summit in Berlin