Climate Database Facilitating Climate Smart Meal Planning for the Public Sector in Sweden

Abstract

Food consumption corresponds to around 25 % of the total consumption-driven climate change impact in Sweden. Dietary change has a considerable potential to reduce this negative impact. To motivate dietary changes adequate information about food climate impact has to be communicated at the decision making point. This study aims at facilitating availability and communication of such information specifically for meal planners at the public sector. Thereby a database is developed and incorporated into the Diet and Nutrition planning software systems used in planning meals in public kitchens. The results provide the meal planners with the opportunity to design climate-conscious and healthy meals by choosing resource-efficient and nutritious ingredients. This provides the potential of reducing the climate impact of an average meal by about 20%. Given the total amount of ca. 3 million public meals served each day in Sweden, use of this integrated tool has the potential to reduce the climate impact by more than 700 tonnes of CO2-eq per day.