Today, 16 October, is the United Nations’ World Food Day. Food production, consumption, and supply chains play critical roles in urban sustainability and sustainable urban development.
Earlier this month, as part of the European Week of Regions and Cities, ICLEI Europe hosted the 30th edition of its Breakfast at Sustainability’s (B@S) event series, which explored one area in which food systems can contribute to sustainability. Namely, the session addressed how school meals and their procurement can contribute to sustainability and regional development.
Case studies have indicated that investing €1 in sustainable school meals can bring up to €6 in social return on investment. If used strategically, sustainable food procurement can be a powerful tool that governments have at their disposal to create stronger and more equitable food systems.
The B@S event spanned remarks from nongovernmental organisations and the European Commission, to best practice presentations from cities, and interactive discussion throughout.
Conversations highlighted the need for stronger support within EU policies in favour of more sustainable school meals, calling for more clarity on “local food” issues generally, and pointing to the lack of clear definitions in this field in Europe.
Christof Kienel (Commission for Natural Resources) and Claudio Serafini (Organic Cities Network Europe) highlighted the need to take a systemic vision of food systems that link different EU policy levels. To achieve such a holistic perspective, Peter Schmidt, from the European Economic and Social Committee, called for the creation of a multi stakeholder and multi-level European Food Policy Council and for the creation of an Expert Group to formulate Europe-wide sustainable dietary guidelines.
Addressing sustainable food procurement at the European level has distinct challenges, however. Arno Kompatscher, President of the Province of Bolzano (Italy), drew attention to the existing constraints within public procurement rules. Namely, while efforts exist to make it possible for private consumers to consciously buy local, organic food, this is not the case when it comes to public procurement, since, according to the EU, bidding for regional products would distort competition. As a result, public tenders have to develop additional award criteria and find ‘creative’ solutions that empower local providers.
Good practice examples were then elaborated on by ICLEI Member Copenhagen (Denmark) and the City of Paris (France). In 2015, Paris adopted a Sustainable Food Plan that explicitly emphasises local, organic and seasonal products and aims at reducing meat consumption by 20 percent. The plan is achieving remarkable results: by 2018, 46.8 percent of meals served in Paris canteens were sustainably sourced, making the municipality the leading public purchasers of organic food in France.
Copenhagen reached its sustainable food procurement goals by investing in awareness-raising and market engagement prior, during and after the tendering process. Much emphasis was also put on education and dialogue with kitchen staff.
These examples demonstrate that – while there remains questions about sustainable food policies in the EU, and the potential need for new governing bodies to address these – there also exists creative and innovative examples of local governments finding ways to make food systems more sustainable.
In support of these and other efforts, ICLEI Europe has a Sustainable Procurement Platform: a resource website that provides up-to-date news, case studies, events, guidance and more on sustainable procurement from across the world.
This World Food Day, let us keep the conversation going. Learn more about work that ICLEI Europe is doing to foster sustainable food systems by clicking here. And don't forget to check the Sustainable Procurement Platform regularly to stay updated on news and insights in green and just procurement.