Guide to Best Practices and Green Criteria for Low-Carbon Food Procurement
Tools
Planetary Health
Procurement
Sustainable Food and Menus
Nourish developed this resource as recommendations and advice to address the needs expressed by the Buyers for Climate Action (BCA), a coalition of leading green public buyers, to enable more low-carbon food procurement.
The guide outlines key strategies for advancing low-carbon food procurement, which is imperative for the transition to net zero. These practices are gaining momentum in health care and on campuses across the country. Best practices and green criteria are detailed in this guide and can support greater low-carbon food procurement by the public sector and the greening of government operations.
Key Findings
- Existing food procurement contributes to significant greenhouse gas emissions, primarily through sourcing high-carbon foods and food waste.
- Some trailblazers have taken action toward sustainable procurement, but there remains a need for collective action and comprehensive implementation of low-carbon food procurement guidance across sectors.
- This transition can be cost-neutral or cost-saving in the long term, especially when factoring in other potential benefits.
Recommendations
- Enact low-carbon food procurement by public buyers to support net-zero operations. The transition to low-carbon food procurement is both a necessary and achievable step in advancing climate-resilient government and food systems.
- Build low-carbon value chains. Collaborate with food producers, processors and suppliers to further develop value chains and to source more sustainably produced, low-carbon food products, encouraging transparency and incentivizing greater sustainability.
- Set goals and track progress. Set targets and establish reporting frameworks to assess the environmental impact of food procurement practices and track progress toward sustainability goals.
- Invest in training and capacity building. Invest in training for public sector executive leaders on the opportunities for low-carbon food procurement to align with climate objectives; invest in capacity building for procurement officers and food service teams to operationalize low-carbon food procurement and menus.
- Align through collaboration. Establish cross-sector working groups to align policies across procurement, health, agriculture, and climate sectors. Enable or establish communities of practice and public buyers for transitioning to sustainable procurement models. Do this work with a lens of cultural humility which acknowledges differences between carbon-intensive food systems and regenerative, land and culture-based food systems.
