What is the solution?
Implementing plant-based meals in public school canteens once per week for all students.
This solution improves our resource security in the food category.
How does it #MoveTheDate?
Shifting from non-vegetarian school meals to vegetarian alternatives could lead to a reduction in the schools’ food Footprint. In Portugal, if all schools adopted this solution, each canteen’s Ecological Footprint would be reduced by from 9% to 13% weekly.
How is it scalable?
Every day, millions of students around the world eat meals in school canteens. The introduction of weekly plant-based meals in school canteens can thus be implemented globally, for the benefit of both students’ and the planet’s health.
What is the solution?
Implementing plant-based meals in public school canteens once per week for all students.
This solution improves our resource security in the food category.
How does it #MoveTheDate?
Shifting from non-vegetarian school meals to vegetarian alternatives could lead to a reduction in the schools’ food Footprint. In Portugal, if all schools adopted this solution, each canteen’s Ecological Footprint would be reduced by from 9% to 13% weekly.
How is it scalable?
Every day, millions of students around the world eat meals in school canteens. The introduction of weekly plant-based meals in school canteens can thus be implemented globally, for the benefit of both students’ and the planet’s health.
Our current food systems are increasingly acknowledged as unsustainable, and dietary choices are gaining more attention for the role they play in creating a more sustainable future. The school environment offers an opportunity to foster food literacy and encourage healthy, sustainable habits in young people, beginning with fresh, locally produced meals in school canteens.
Beginning in October 2021, the Portuguese Vegetarian Association, the University of Aveiro, and Global Footprint Network collaborated with Portuguese municipalities Almada and Albufeira to calculate how switching from conventional to plant-based meals could impact their school’s Ecological Footprints. The project found that the Ecological Footprint of an average plant-based meal was 92% lower than that of an average meat-based meal.*
Serving stew with mushrooms and peas instead of pork meat reduced the school meal’s Ecological Footprint by 36%. In another case, making vegetarian chili with soya chunks instead of beef reduced the meal’s Ecological Footprint by 44%! Even in the case of fish, cooking with chickpeas instead of hake, both accompanied by boiled potatoes, reduced the Ecological Footprint by 36%.
Additionally, each participating municipality’s canteen staff participated in two formal trainings. Three workshops educating students and parents on sustainable food and the role of plant-based meals in school meals were also offered.
Click the buttons below to download an infographic with more information on the project’s outcomes.
*This percentage reduction was calculated by comparing the average Ecological Footprint of all meat-based meals (10 meals/city) and the average Ecological Footprint of all plant-based meals (5 meals/city) in both municipalities during the 2nd – 3rd school cycle.
There’s no benefit in waiting!
Acting now puts you at a strategic advantage in a world increasingly defined by ecological overshoot. Countless solutions exist that #MoveTheDate. They’re creative, economically viable, and ready to deploy at scale. With them, we can make ourselves more resilient and #MoveTheDate of Earth Overshoot Day. If we move the date 6 days each year, humanity can be out of overshoot before 2050.