When 171,000 people gather in San Francisco for the Dreamforce mega-conference, they’ll frolic in a vast artificial forest and attend panels featuring former President Barack Obama and “Game of Thrones” star Emilia Clarke.

One thing not on the program: beef.

For the first time, Salesforce, which organizes the conference and is the city’s biggest private employer, won’t be serving any meals with beef. The move will save 9 million gallons of water and make Dreamforce more environmentally sustainable, the company said.

Dreamforce, which runs Tuesday through Friday at Moscone Center, also won’t offer straws and will use 100% compostable utensils and meal packaging. The conference will provide reusable plastic water bottles to those in attendance, saving an estimated 100,000 single-use bottles. Excess food will be donated after the conference to San Francisco nonprofit Food Runners, rather than being thrown out.

Suzanne DiBianca, Salesforce chief impact officer, said the efforts come amid greater urgency to fight climate change.

“Climate change is happening. It’s here,” she said. “We have got to go fast. We have to change how we deliver Dreamforce. We have to change our operations. We have to use Dreamforce as a platform to educate people on how they can get involved.”

Some of the changes increase Salesforce’s expenses, but overall “it’s been pretty smooth,” she said. “You sometimes have to pay a premium. It’s worth it.”

Salesforce joins a growing number of companies reducing plastic, though only one other prominent company has restricted meat. Last year, the office space provider WeWork stopped reimbursing employees for meat purchases, excluding fish, including at its Summer Camp event in England.

In September, Facebook banned single-use plastic water bottles at its new offices. San Francisco International Airport did the same in August, though it still allows vendors to sell soda and flavored water in single-use bottles.

The cattle industry wasn’t impressed with the beef-free policy.

“U.S. cattle producers utilize grazing animals to complement the native range and prairie ecosystems, while also preserving open spaces and protecting the land from becoming, let’s say, another resource-intensive conference center,” said Lia Biondo, director of policy and outreach at the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association, which represents beef producers, in an email.

“Livestock production will continue to sequester carbon in the soil and offset the emissions required to maintain those server farms, as well as the emissions produced from all the planes, trains, and cars it took to get attendees to San Francisco,” she said.

Salesforce didn’t have data on how many people fly into the conference, but it plans to offset carbon emissions from employee travel to Dreamforce. The company encourages people to take public transit.

Back to Gallery Salesforce chops beef from Dreamforce menu 11 1 of 11 Photo: Roland Li / The Chronicle 2 of 11 Photo: Roland Li / The Chronicle 3 of 11 Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle 4 of 11 Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle 5 of 11 Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle 6 of 11 Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle 7 of 11 Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle 8 of 11 Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle 9 of 11 Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle 10 of 11 Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle 11 of 11 Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle





















Andrew Hoffman, professor of sustainable enterprise at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, said he wasn’t aware of other major conferences restricting meat.

“It’s an unusual choice,” he said, but said it makes sense to single out beef, because it uses more resources than other kinds of meat. “The resources that go into making a hamburger are astonishing,” he said.

Hoffman said Salesforce’s beef move will have a limited impact unless the company communicates to participants why it is taking that step and how they can personally become more environmentally sustainable.

“We’re going through a period of social change, which is important. They have an opportunity to educate,” he said. “Vegetarian options are becoming more accepted.”

Last year, Salesforce didn’t serve beef at conference lunches, but this year it has amped it up, with the entire conference not offering beef.

Salesforce officials say they were inspired by the sustainable development goals set by the United Nations, which calls for environmental sustainability, clean water and economic equality. Dreamforce will include a Sustainability Summit, which includes speaker panels on climate solutions, for the second year.

“We just think, every year, how can we raise the bar? How can we go bigger and better with Dreamforce? How can we provide more inspiration?” said Brigitte Donner, Salesforce’s Dreamforce chairwoman.

Inside What streets and Muni routes will be affected by the Dreamforce conference. D3

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Conference visitors craving beef won’t have to go far. Both Fogo de Chao Brazilian Steakhouse and Super Duper Burgers are just steps away from Moscone Center.

Roland Li is a Chronicle staff writer. Email: roland.li@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rolandlisf