CLIKIS Network

Background

Food production is responsible for a significant share of greenhouse gas emissions. This becomes evident with a look at school catering figures in the target countries: Estonian schools hand out approximately 36 million meals annually, accounting for 43,000 tonnes of CO2. With a considerably bigger population, Croatian schools hand out around 125 million meals per year, with a respective output of 150,000 tonnes of CO2. Due to the large amount of food that is distributed in schools, school catering constitutes a central starting point for the reduction of food production-related emissions. Predecessor projects in Germany and Poland show that measures such as choosing climate-friendly ingredients, deploying and investing in energy-efficient technology, and reducing food waste make for a 40 per cent reduction of emissions.

Project

The project provides school kitchen managers, school directors, and municipal representatives in Croatia and Estonia with the necessary know-how to make catering more sustainable. To do so, it analyses school kitchens’ current climate efficiency and offers consultations for improvement. Furthermore, it supports the individual schools with practical measures such as the development of regionally appropriate clime-friendly dishes and respective training for kitchen chefs. Importantly, the project also constitutes an organisational framework for all issues concerning school catering’s climate friendliness, allowing for efficient communication among stakeholders. The project organises four regional workshops, where participants share expertise and best practice on the use of sustainable ingredients and the exchanging of outdated equipment. To ensure further dissemination of the acquired knowledge, the project organises conferences both on national and European levels. The project thus contributes to the further inclusion of food production issues into national and European climate protection strategies.