PUBLIC PROCUREMENT NEWS

  

News

19 February 2015

Helsinki and Turin strive to lower catering service emissions based on CO2 analysis

Helsinki (Finland) and Turin (Italy) are looking at ways to improve the sustainability of their procurement of catering services following findings from a measurement of the services’ CO2 emissions. Data on the climate impact of Helsinki’s food services has come from three key areas: food procurement; direct energy consumption of food production; and internal logistics of the catering service.

Results indicate that through the ingredients chosen, food purchasing is responsible for 58 percent (the largest proportion) of the total carbon footprint. 41 percent of the carbon produced comes from energy consumption, while transport logistics accounts for only 1 percent. This information will be used to inform the city’s carbon reduction strategy. Similarly, INNOCAT partner Turin found that transportation within the city accounted for just 1 percent of the overall carbon footprint, while production processes for the product groups measured amounted to between 75 and 95 percent of the total.

Turin’s current catering contract, which has been in place since 2013, includes a number of sustainable procurement criteria. These include the purchase of energy efficient appliances, the use of low carbon vehicles for transportation, using tap water instead of bottled, decreased packaging levels and a switch to packaging with a lower environmental impact. The Italian city is considering expanding the measurement criteria to take in other environmental factors.

For more information, read the GPP case study on Helsinki, and the GPP case study on Turin.