Our story
Leeds City Council has been helping schools lower their emissions, with a range of measures engaging school leaders and students. This includes working to halve the carbon footprint of the meals it serves by 2030.
Food and farming is a significant contributor to the climate and ecological emergencies but does not always feature in councils' Climate Action Plans. School food is important because this is the largest area of procurement for most councils, and an opportunity to help give children a better diet.
To reduce the carbon footprint of school meals, the council has committed to:
- buy local, serve local – source food from producers and suppliers based in Yorkshire and the surrounding counties to cut food miles;
- ban air-freighted imports – procure no food transported by air;
- review menus to reduce meat and dairy and give catering staff the data to easily compare the carbon footprints of meals, and adjust them accordingly; and
- establish a research partnership with the Consumer Data Research Centre at the University of Leeds, to better understand the impact of the food it serves.
The plan builds on progress made on influencing schools to switch to low-carbon menus, where two meat-free days a week were made available at in 182 primary schools served by the council's provider, Catering Leeds. The new Planet Friendly Menus use more plant protein and less meat on non-vegetarian days to reduce the proportion of meat in the meals. Vegan options have been expanded across the board and menus feature lots of seasonal fruit. Menus exceed the National School Food Standards and meet the Bronze Food For Life accreditation.
Our advice
Support from residents:
The meat-free idea received strong praise from many residents. During a 'Big Leeds Climate Conversation' almost nine out of ten respondents supported the proposal to reduce meat in school meals, so the council had a strong mandate to justify the decision and evidence to refer back to in the case of objections.
Co-design with schools:
Catering Leeds took care to ensure that the new menus were well designed by taking a consultative approach, communicating the benefits and listening to schools' concerns. Schoolchildren were invited to join discussions about the changes and voice their opinions. 95% of those surveyed said they would not mind having meat free days at school to reduce their carbon footprints. A gradual introduction has also eased the switch in Leeds.
Going further within government guidelines:
Current central government School Food Standards legally require schools to serve meat three days a week. They also have to serve oily fish at least once every 3 weeks, and dairy every day – both of which also impact the extent to which state schools can go further. To expand vegetarian and vegan-only options Leeds has taken the approach of reducing the amount of meat in its meat-based dishes which is within the guidelines, but councils should also be proactive in seeking changes to the government guidelines.
Allow time to bring schools on board:
Leeds schools were not required to make the switch. Schools are able to choose a different provider or request a different menu from Catering Leeds should they wish. The new menus are not compulsory, only strongly recommended by the council. As a result, the time taken to convince each school to make the switch varies between schools and not all those serviced by Catering Leeds opted in.
Balancing views and sticking to the plan:
Despite being supported by many, removing meat options from schools is still a controversial move. The council faced criticism from a minority of residents to the changes and the removal of a meat choice on certain days (though this was not a consensus view). Parent concern must be anticipated and accounted for – other councils might consider seeking parent input to the consultation process.
Councils will be facing the opposite pressure from campaign groups. For example, in March 2021 Animal Rebellion launched its Plant Based Schools campaign which now has 40 groups around the country. Their demands are: for schools to have two fully vegetarian days a week (like Leeds) and to serve only plant-based meals at council events. They plan to target councils that have declared a climate emergency.
Leeds stuck to its plan which is an important part of tackling climate emissions, but it ensured that it engaged with schools and residents to bring as many of them as possible on board.
Friends of the Earth, Sustain, Eating Better, and others have produced a Campaigner guide (Local authorities, food and climate) which will help campaigners wishing to influence their council but should also be useful to councils wishing to include food as a key part of their action on climate.
Our Changeprint
Our Changeprint can be measured by the reduction in greenhouse gases (Leeds primary schools can save up to 75 tonnes of carbon by making the meal switch from meat to plant-based); healthier eating habits (the new vegetarian and vegan options have been well-received by children, contrary to the popular idea that children are averse to healthier, greener food!); and increased support for local food producers and suppliers (who enable us to cut food miles significantly).
