Climate data gaining ground in public kitchens

Climate-friendly and plant-rich diets have received political attention, but there is still a long way to go for Danes to adhere to The Danish Official Dietary Guidelines by significantly reducing meat and dairy products and increasing consumption of vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. Public kitchens play a central role in this regard, as they serve approximately 800,000 daily meals and can introduce new dishes, inspire our food culture with new flavors and textures, and contribute to increasing the demand for food with a low climate footprint.

Several public institutions have focused on reducing the climate footprint of public meals, and in recent years, several initiatives have been taken to support climate-friendly eating habits. Prior to the launch of the updated version 1.1 of The Big Climate Database, CONCITO conducted a survey on the use of the existing version 1 in public kitchens in Denmark and whether climate calculations are made for food purchases and meals. In this context, we contacted all municipalities, regions, and the State's Facility Management to inquire about their use of climate data in kitchens and other initiatives to promote climate-friendly eating habits. Information has been collected from approximately 80% of municipalities, regions, and the state.

In the CONCITO note Climate Data and Climate-Friendly Diet in Public Kitchens (available in Danish), we present the current use of climate data in public kitchens, as well as other initiatives to promote climate-friendly food purchases and meals in the public sector. The note is not an exhaustive analysis but provides an overall picture of the current efforts for inspiration and prioritization of further actions in this area.

The results of the survey can be summarized as follows:

• Eight municipalities calculate the climate footprint of their food purchases.
• Three regions have central procurement calculations and reduction targets.
• Four municipalities have specific reduction targets, and 42 municipalities plan to introduce climate calculations within the next few years.
• Climate calculations are a requirement in the state's tenders. Currently, climate data is only calculated for food purchases in ministries and agencies in Copenhagen.
• Six municipalities and two regions use The Big Climate Database.
• Aalborg University Hospital uses The Big Climate Database in the More2Eat goes green project.
• The Big Climate Database is used in regions and municipalities as a source of information when kitchen staff and citizens are educated about the climate footprint of food.
• Regions and municipalities call for uniform and officially recognized data for use in their climate calculations to enable comparisons.
• It is administratively and resource-intensive for several municipalities to perform climate calculations, which is why a free, user-friendly tool is in demand.

Good experiences with documented climate impact

Knowledge about the climate footprint of food is an important element in the training of purchasers and kitchen staff, which should be prioritized in the coming years so that we can have good experiences with plant-rich diets in public kitchens.

CONCITO's survey shows that public institutions and kitchens in many places are well underway in incorporating data on the climate footprint of food into their decision-making. In many places, it is based on The Big Climate Database, and in some places, there are documented positive effects on the climate footprint of public meals.

The ability to measure the development of the climate footprint of food purchases and meals enables public institutions to adopt concrete policies in the field, such as a reduction target for the climate footprint of public meals or an internal climate tax like the one in Aarhus Municipality, which provides a clear green price signal to public kitchens without reducing their budget.

For many, it is an important motivating factor to be able to see a concrete result of the efforts to transform public meals, and hopefully, it will give everyone involved the desire and incentive to do even more to reduce the climate footprint of purchases and meals. This effort is not in conflict with dietary guidelines, targets for buying organic food, etc., but rather strengthens and complements them by making the climate impact measurable and tangible.

Climate efforts in kitchens should be promoted in parallel with the establishment of a state database

A working group for a government-controlled climate labeling scheme for food under the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration has recommended that the data used in the forthcoming climate labeling scheme should be based on the A-LCA method, unlike The Big Climate Database, which is based on the C-LCA method. In connection with this, the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration has decided to develop an official state database on the climate footprint of food as a basis for the climate labeling scheme and other applications in public kitchens, etc.

Thus, CONCITO's and many others' desire for an official Danish database on the climate footprint of food is on its way to being fulfilled, but it will likely take 2-3 years before such a database is established. In the meantime, it is important that the good work with the use of climate data in public kitchens is not put on hold but rather encouraged and further promoted.

Based on the previous experiences and results created with the use of The Big Climate Database as well as other databases in public kitchens, CONCITO recommends the following principles for working with climate data in public kitchens in the coming years:

• While waiting for an official state database on the climate footprint of food, public institutions should continue to gain insights and experiences with climate calculation of purchases and meals based on the current available and preferred databases.
• To be able to track the development over time, it is important to base calculations on the same dataset.
• To be able to update in line with new knowledge and updates, as well as when the official database is eventually established, it is important to design calculation tools in a way that makes them easy to update. Additionally, it should be possible to recalculate the baseline if one wishes to track the development over a longer period and expects to switch data sources along the way.
• If one wishes to compare efforts and share experiences with other public institutions, it is advantageous to base the climate calculations on The Big Climate Database, which is currently the most widely used calculation tool, incorporating information from several major Danish wholesalers and matching the forthcoming state database in terms of scope and level of detail.
• The forthcoming official Danish climate database should ideally include both A-LCA and C-LCA results. This will enable producers to make product-specific comparisons based on the A-LCA result for the product type according to the currently most widespread approach in the EU, and provide purchasers and consumers with information on the generic climate footprint of the product type through the C-LCA result, which fully considers the global impact of a change in consumption, including indirect land use.