WeWork is going vegetarian.
WeWork
© WeWork
In an email to about 6,000 employees on Friday, the $20 billion office rental company announced that it will no longer reimburse employees for meals that include red meat, poultry, or pork and will stop serving meat at company events.

Employees who need medical or religious allowances are being referred to the company's policy team.

The news was first reported by Bloomberg and the policy change was confirmed to Business Insider by a WeWork spokeswoman.

WeWork's co-founder and chief culture officer Miguel McKelvey wrote in the email that the meat ban is an effort to reduce the company's carbon footprint. WeWork estimates the policy will save 445.1 million pounds of Carbon Dioxide emissions by 2023, 16.6 billion gallons of water, and 15,507,103 animals.

"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," McKelvey said in a statement.

WeWork provides coworking spaces for companies in locations around the world. The meat ban will affect offices in all of the company's locations, the spokeswoman said.