Despite the lack of national climate targets for Swedish food consumption, every third municipality has taken the lead and introduced its own climate goals for the food served in preschool, school, and elderly care.
Since 2018, the National Food Administration ‘Livsmedelsverket’ has followed the municipalities’ work with meals in preschool, school, and elderly care. This is the second time the survey has been carried out, and it shows that 30 percent of the municipalities have their own, local climate goals. 238 of Sweden’s 290 municipalities participated in the survey.
– Several municipalities have set ambitious climate goals for the meals; the most ambitious goal is meals with 30 percent lower climate footprint compared to the average. Now we hope that they can inspire other municipalities to set goals. But to have an impact throughout the country, climate goals are needed at the national level, says Emelie Eriksson at Livsmedelsverket’s Competence Center for meals in care, school, and care.
For the meals to be sustainable, the municipality needs to focus on different aspects, it is not enough to focus only on organic or only on climate impact. About twenty municipalities state that they have set measurable goals for three important environmental aspects – climate impact, food purchases and food waste – and they also offer a daily vegetarian alternative to all students who want this.
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