Cool Food Pro ‘revolutionises’ how caterers measure their environmental impact
The digital tool works out environmental impacts and then suggests how to make positive changes. Cool Food Pro aims to support at least 100 caterers to make long-term changes and save over 1,000T of CO2e in the process.
Since launching in 2022, participants have already saved nearly 350T of CO2e, which is equivalent to 150,0756 km travelled by a passenger aeroplane (including direct emissions, production and fuel distribution).
Project partners include The Soil Association, eco charity PECT, the University of Western Brittany (UBO), MAB29, and LABOCEA. Together, the project team supports the catering industry’s transition towards becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
Deborah Taylor, sustainable catering project manager at Soil Association, Food for Life, said: “The Cool Food Pro carbon calculator not only supports caterers to serve more sustainable, climate friendly foods; it also enables their clients to reach key sustainability targets, and helps their consumers to understand how food choices can affect the health of the planet, and its people.”
Caterers, from any size of business, can sign up online to access the free digital tool and find out how to reduce their environmental impact. Cool Food Pro can help you meet your sustainability targets, be a leading example in your industry, and make cost savings by reducing waste, water and energy.
The tool will calculate the carbon impact of potential changes. It looks at five key areas: going seasonal, buying local, buying organic, using less and better meat, and reducing food and packaging waste.
Based in Peterborough, Cool Food Pro user Thomas Deacon Education Trust (TDET) is a large trust catering for over 5,000 students. It is aiming to be net carbon zero by 2030.
Michael Dove, catering operations manager, added: “When the tool was introduced, I was concerned that it would create extra work for the cooks within the academies. But it is easy and not at all time-consuming for them to use. It also tracks the changes we make and can be used to advertise our efforts and savings. It is always good to show what we are doing to support sustainability across the trust.”
Catering organisations can sign up to Cool Food Pro for free any time. However, the project team is on hand to help only until the end of March 2023, so don’t miss your chance to get customised support while it’s available.
If you want to improve your impact on the planet and reduce your catering carbon emissions, sign up at: www.coolfoodpro.net.