Why workspace startup WeWork has gone vego

US shared workspace startup WeWork has gone vegetarian in a extreme bid to reduce the company’s impact on the environment.

WeWork employees will no longer be able to expense meals that contain meat, and WeWork events — including its annual ‘summer camp’ retreat — will not serve meat dishes, according to a Bloomberg report.

The meat ban includes red meat, poultry and pork, leaving fish products up for grabs.

The ban is international, affecting employees across the shared workspaces in 22 countries, including locations in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

The Bloomberg report quotes a memo from WeWork co-founder and chief executive Miguel McKelvey, who said: “New research indicates that avoiding meat is one of the biggest things an individual can do to reduce their personal environmental impact … even more than switching to a hybrid car”.

WeWork has confirmed to the Reuters that its 253,000 members will still be allowed to bring their own meat products to the workspaces, and will be able to host events serving meat, as long as they pay for it themselves.

However, the restriction does include the startup’s “honesty market”, a self-service food kiosk system operating in some of its co-working spaces.

Currently valued at $US20 billion ($26.96 billion), WeWork was launched in 2010 and opened its first co-working space in Australia in Sydney at the end of 2016.

In November last year, it opened its Melbourne offices, with Victorian Minister for Innovation Phillip Dalidakis hailing it as “the most important startup” to come to the city.

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