Project summary

This is a research project that explores how public food procurement can help promote sustainability and reduce GHG emissions across the European Union (EU). Meat and animal-based food consumption worldwide and in the EU remains well above levels recommended for planetary and human health, making food systems a key area for climate mitigation. Public procurement, due to its scale and regulatory nature, offers a concrete policy lever to support dietary shifts towards sustainability.

The research examines public catering services in schools and hospitals. It takes a practical, measurable approach by evaluating the sustainability of actual menus against the EAT-Lancet Commission's reference diet and estimating potential GHG emission reductions using Poore and Nemecek (2018) as its main reference.

The project aims to produce evidence-based results for dissemination through peer-reviewed scientific articles submitted to leading international journals. Its main goal is to support policymaking at both the EU and national levels to promote the adoption of more sustainable diets.

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

1. Main goals:

• Assess the sustainability of public food procurement in selected EU countries, focusing on menus used in public schools and hospitals;

• Quantify the potential reduction of GHG emissions achievable through shifts toward more sustainable, plant-forward menus;

• Develop a replicable and scalable methodological framework for evaluating public catering menus using standardized sustainability and emissions benchmarks;

• Produce policy-relevant evidence that can inform public procurement strategies at both EU and national levels in support of the transition toward more sustainable diets.

  2. How the project will be achieved:

  The project's feasibility has already been demonstrated through initial research conducted without external funding. Using artificial intelligence tools, I have successfully accessed and collected menu data from 163 public schools in Spain, and I have carried out a sustainability assessment and CO2e emissions calculation based on the references mentioned earlier (EAT-Lancet and Poore and Nemecek). We found that 79% of the analyzed schools had unsustainable menus. An academic article based on this analysis will be submitted to a journal later this month.

  A preliminary exploration indicates that the same process can be applied to access menus from public schools and/or hospitals in multiple other EU countries. Building on this validated methodology, the project will expand the analysis to additional national contexts, enabling cross-country comparison and broader policy relevance.

  By relying on a tested, data-driven, and scalable approach, the project minimizes implementation risks and ensures its goals are achieved.
  

How will this funding be used?

The funding will primarily cover research labor costs, which are essential to scaling the project beyond the initial, self-funded case study.

1. Research time and capacity constraints:

The pilot study on Spanish public school menus required approximately 3 months of full-time research, including data collection, sustainability assessments, emissions calculations, and article writing. Without dedicated funding, it is not feasible to extend this analysis to additional countries, as the project is labour-intensive and requires careful, manual validation of data.

2. Language coverage and translation costs:

   I can independently conduct the research for countries where menus are available in Spanish, Portuguese, English and French, as I am fluent in these languages. However, to ensure a policy-relevant and balanced country sample, the project aims to include:

   • Countries often regarded as frontrunners in sustainable food systems (e.g., Denmark and Sweden); and

   • Additional EU countries whose official languages I do not speak.

     In these cases, funding will be used to hire professional translators to translate the collected menus. This is a critical quality-control measure. A preliminary test using a paid AI LLM to translate menus in the research of Spanish schools revealed significant and systematic errors in menu translations, which would compromise data accuracy and undermine the validity of the sustainability and emissions calculations. For this reason, human translators are necessary.

     3. Statistical support:

     Part of the funding will be allocated to involve a researcher with expertise in statistics. While the core methodology and calculations are already established and relatively straightforward, statistical support would:

   • Increase efficiency in data processing and validation;

   • Reduce the time between data collection and article submission; and

   • Strengthen the robustness and credibility of the quantitative analysis.

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

1. Project Team:

• Principal Investigator: I lead the project and am responsible for research design, data collection, sustainability and emission analysis, and academic writing.

• Translator (to be recruited): they will be hired on a country-by-country basis, depending on the final selection of EU countries included in the study. Country selection will be informed by a preliminary assessment of the availability of online public catering menus (schools and/or hospitals).

• Statistical Support: The project plans to involve Dr. Alexander Bauer (https://www.linkedin.com/in/statswithalex/), a statistician working on related topics, who has expressed interest in participating. His contribution would focus on data validation, improving quantitative analysis efficiency, and strengthening the robustness of the results.

  2. Track record and relevant experience:

     I have 11 years of experience as a university lecturer and researcher. Over this period:

     • I led a research group for 4 years, coordinating a team of 8 researchers;

     • For the past two and a half years, my research has focused on the impact of the livestock industry on climate change, analyzed through the lenses of international law and international politics;

     • I have published in well-established international peer-reviewed academic journals and blogs;

     • In recent months, I have concentrated specifically on the project for which funding is requested here.

     • Links to access the articles: 1) https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/german-law-journal/article/ignored-impact-of-the-livestock-sector-on-climate-change-an-analysis-from-the-perspective-of-international-law/524C971CB0C2019EADAEB9D52683D457#article; 2) https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/18785395251351128; 3) https://www.ejiltalk.org/the-livestock-sector-and-potential-violations-of-the-paris-agreement/; 4) https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-journal-of-risk-regulation/article/climate-change-cattle-and-the-international-legal-order/C3B24C46155B76115DA8F378C786744F#article

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

The project has a low risk of failure, as the methodology has already been successfully tested. The most likely limiting scenarios are:

• Lack of publicly available menu data in some countries. This is considered unlikely, as preliminary searches have already identified relevant data sources across the EU.

• Data availability concentrated in countries with similarities (e.g., Nordic countries, Eastern European Countries, etc.), which could limit the analysis.

  Even in these scenarios, the project would still produce valuable outcomes. Country-specific or regionally clustered analysis remain relevant for informing effective public food procurement and can serve as a solid empirical basis for future research and policy development.

How much money have you raised in the last 12 months, and from where?

None. The project was initially developed as a self-funded pilot to test the feasibility of the methodology through a single case study.

Explainig why minimum funding differs from Funding Goal:

• Minimum Funding: I would be able to conduct a full analysis of one additional country (besides Spain), focusing on either public schools or public hospitals. This would cover approximately 3 months of research work, from data collection to article submission, without involving additional team members.

• Full Funding: I would be able to conduct up to six complete analyses. These would involve other team members and consist of:

  a. public schools or public hospitals in six different countries, or

  b. combined analyses of schools and hospitals within the same country, which would reduce the number of countries covered.

  The final configuration would depend on the availability of publicly accessible menu data in each country.