The StratKIT project has developed eight recommendations on Sustainable and Healthy School Food Procurement for national and EU policy makers as part of the Procura+ City Interest Group on School Food Procurement. These recommendations support the EU Farm to Fork Strategy and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The recommendations are based on the views and experiences of a number of local and national experts, the policy advocacy work of the EU Food Policy Council and further research. ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability is the main author.

Food is a central element in our lives and it plays an especially crucial role in the quality of our children’s lives and their growth. As kids spend most of their time at school, school food procurement should be at the top of the priority lists for policy making. Healthy and sustainable diets and lifestyles should be rights granted to every child to reach their full potential. However, most European schools base their purchasing decisions on the cheapest price only, leaving limited margin for environmental and social sustainability.

Considering that today’s food systems account for 21-37% of total greenhouse gases (IPCCC, 2019) and are a primary cause of environmental degradation, socio-economic and health inequalities, it is the policy makers’ duty to address this issue. The EU’s position of the EU Farm to Fork Strategy recognizes the relevant role of public food procurement can play in supporting a food systems transition. The Stratkit project has developed its recommendations within this context. Their core elements are:

1. Establishing a favourable policy framework
2. Integrating national health/nutrition dietary guidelines
3. Creating minimum mandatory public procurement criteria for school food embracing sustainability and health
4. Restructuring public procurement to create and maximising synergies
5. Fostering cooperation from farm to fork with and among small-scale farmers and social economy enterprises
6. Boosting local and regional development through sustainable and healthy food procurement
7. Encouraging and enabling education about food systems and healthy diets to be included in school curricula
8. Channeling resources to help bridge gaps

The Recommendations on Sustainable and Healthy School Food Procurement can be downloaded here

On 1 December, ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability organised a market dialogue event for public procurers across Europe within the European Commission’s Big Buyers for Climate and Environment Initiative, taking place in the City of Oslo (Norway). It focused on innovative solutions to tackle emissions from construction works and convened market representatives from the Machinery, Contracting and Energy & technology fields for in-person networking and exchange. The public procurers gathered valuable market intelligence on the state of the art, remaining barriers and suitable actions to accelerate the transition to emission-free construction works. The market dialogue further conveyed the aggregated ambition and demand of the Big Buyers working group (17 European public authorities) to principal market actors in the EU construction industry.

Representatives from the Procura+ participants Oslo and Copenhagen presented their approach on zero-emission construction sites to suppliers, including the strategies used to pilot and scale up the use of fossil-free and emission-free machinery on public construction sites. The C40 Clean Construction Program was also presented to demonstrate the global dimension of the trend towards emission-free construction works.

Afterwards, suppliers had the chance to pitch their current market capacity and innovation for emission-free construction solutions. MGF (the Norwegian Construction Machine Manufacturers Association) accompanied by Rosendal, Volvo, Poncat and Nasta started with the state of the market for emission-free machinery in Norway, followed by CECE (the European Construction Machine Manufacturers Association), on decarbonising construction machinery from a European perspective. Veidekke and Nordkysten respectively introduced a Norwegian and a Danish contractor’s perspective, demonstrating the multiple benefits on worker health, noise, and even construction timelines that led to their organisations interest in emission-free solutions. FIEC (the European Construction Industry (Contractor) Federation) provided insights in the European policy perspective of fossil-free construction sites, while Moog Construction focused on high performance Zero-Emission vehicles and automation to increase productivity on sites. Ballard Power Systems Europe and SuperCharge concluded the round of pitches with their presentations on innovative solutions for supplying power to zero emission construction sites.

A panel discussion on opportunities and challenges for zero-emission construction sites in Europe rounded up the plenary programme. 

The market dialogue ended with lively group discussions between buyers and suppliers on the enabling framework for emission-free construction in Europe as well as technology and innovation for zero-emission solutions.

In 2022, the zero-emission construction sites working group will continue to jointly engage market stakeholders, work together to align their procurement procedures, and will collaborate to deliver outcomes that serve to share their learnings with other procurers.