Climate-Conscious & Cost-Effective: A Case for Plant-Based University Catering

October 2024

“In line with a wealth of academic literature, the data in this model is clear: a plant-based transition is an environmental imperative. Our model found that plant-based meals are consistently the most sustainable across various environmental measures, compared to vegetarian and meat-based meals. Crucially, we also found that a plant-based transition provides an opportunity for caterers to reduce their food procurement costs. This report gives them the reassurance and guidance they need to kickstart their transition to sustainable menus.” – Billy Nicholles & Chris Bryant (Bryant Research)

Executive Summary

Climate change poses a serious threat to many aspects of human society. Secretary General of the UN Antonio Guterres has called for “climate action on all fronts – everything, everywhere, all at once”. Our food systems – responsible for approximately one-third of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – have a significant impact on the climate crisis. Of this, the impact of animal agriculture is greatly outsized, whereas that of plant-based foods is comparatively much lower.

There is a clear and urgent need for a just and sustainable transition towards plant-based institutional catering services. Universities, as the institutions that have made clear the threat of rapid climate change and as stewards of future generations, have a well-placed responsibility to lead this transition. 

This report models the financial and environmental impacts of a transition to plant-based catering in universities. We compiled environmental impact data, wholesale price, and portion sizes for 140 different ingredients  to estimate the environmental footprint and food procurement costs for a range of meat-based, vegetarian, and plant-based university meals. 

Our major findings are: 

  1. A plant-based transition can be financially beneficial for universities. Indeed, the transition presents an opportunity for cost savings, with food costs for plant-based meals being on average 30% cheaper than meat-based meals, and 21% cheaper than vegetarian meals.
  2. Plant-based meals greatly diminish the environmental impact of university catering. Plant-based meals emit 84% less CO2eq on average compared to meat-based meals, and use less than one-tenth of the land.
  3. A medium-sized university with 10,000 students could save over £500,000 (€600,000/$650,000) annually on food procurement costs by adopting 100% plant-based university catering.

Methods

We built financial and environmental models to estimate the average food costs and environmental impacts of meat-based, vegetarian, and plant-based meals served in university canteens. We estimated the food costs of a typical university menu providing meat-based, vegetarian, and plant-based meals. We also calculated the environmental impacts (CO2eq emissions, water use, land use) per kilogram of each ingredient used in these meals using data from Poore & Nemecek (2018).
We also built a transitionary steps model which estimated the financial and environmental impacts of different stages of a plant-based transition to different sized universities. We first calculated the impacts of a transition from a business-as-usual to a 100% plant-based scenario. We then modelled the impact of different levels of transition (30% or the implementation of plant-based default initiatives, 50%, and 70%) based on this total change, assuming that the marginal impacts of animal product consumption were consistent at different levels of consumption. Our methods in full can be found in the appendices of the report.

Results

Average food costs for caterers were calculated based on three weeks of sample menus, featuring one meat-based, one vegetarian, and one plant-based meal each day, totalling 45 meals (15 of each meal type). 

Meal costs ranged from £4.66 (€5.33/$6.11) per meal (for a beef lasagne with garlic cheese bread, fries, and a side salad) to £1.44 (€1.71/$1.88) per meal (for a plant-based jackfruit burger with pickled cabbage and potato wedges). 

Our results are laid out in Figure 1 (in British Pounds) and Figure 2 (in Euros). On average, the meat-based meals were most expensive, followed by the vegetarian meals, which were on average 11.52% cheaper. Plant-based meals were on average almost one-third cheaper than meat-based meals at 30.42%, and 21.37% cheaper than vegetarian meals. All 45 meals, their main ingredients, food costs, and environmental impacts, can be found in the appendices.

CO2eq emissions ranged from 11.4kg of CO2eq per meal (for a beef lasagne with garlic cheese bread, fries, and a side salad) to 0.5kg of CO2eq (for a chestnut and oyster mushroom kebab with pickled onions and chillies, and chips). 

Meat-based meals had a significantly higher average carbon footprint (3.2kg of CO2eq per meal) compared to vegetarian (1.5kg per meal) and plant-based meals  (0.5kg per meal). 

Plant-based meals emit on average 84% less CO2eq compared to meat-based meals. Moreover, the average vegetarian meal still emits 3x as much CO2eq compared to the average plant-based meal. In no cases did the CO2eq emissions of a plant-based meal exceed that of a vegetarian or meat-based meal. 

Water use per meal ranged from 663.9 litres (for a meat feast pizza with mixed salad) to 66.5 litres (for a tofu and vegetable ramen with kimchi slaw). 

Once again, meat-based meals had the highest average water use at 370.1 litres per meal. In contrast, the average plant-based meal used 69% less water, at 115.2 litres. Unlike other environmental measures, the average water use requirements for vegetarian meals (350.3 litres per meal) were just 5% lower than that of meat-based meals. 

This is because dairy products, and cheese products in particular, demand particularly high volumes of water to produce. Hence, on average, only plant-based meals provide significant reductions in water use. 

Land use per meal ranged from 36m² per meal (for a beef lasagne with garlic cheese bread, fries, and a side salad) to 0.5m² (for a mushroom risotto with vegan cheese and a side salad).

Land use provides the greatest discrepancy in environmental impact between meat-based and plant-based meals. While the average amount of land required for a meat-based meal is 12.3m², the average for a plant-based meal is just 1.2m². Meat-based meals therefore require on average over 10x the amount of land compared to plant-based meals. Plant-based meals also still require on average 73% less land than vegetarian meals. 

Food Cost and Environmental Impact Reductions Graphs

The  graphs below visualise the reductions in food costs and environmental impacts for a medium university. Reductions are proportionally identical for small and large universities.

Water & land use, Emissions from food & Financial saving scenarios
Financial savings
Significant cuts in emissions from food
Drastic reduction in water use
Big reductions in land use

Policy Recommendations

Plan a Roadmap

Universities should publicly commit to and begin planning a phased transition to 100% plant-based catering on campus by 2030. Universities should set clear annual targets for increasing the proportion of plant-based meals. This is a crucial first step in signalling commitment to a just and sustainable food system, and in realising the financial and environmental benefits of a plant-based transition. 

Engage and Educate Stakeholders

Universities should engage with, educate, and ‘bring along’ stakeholders, including Students’ Union leaders and prospective and current students, as well as catering managers, commercial directors, chefs, directors of estates, and sustainability managers. All these parties should recognise the benefits of transitioning at the student, university, and societal level. Menu options should be diverse, nutritious and appealing as well as environmentally and financially advantageous.

Implement Defaults

The evidence is clear: defaults work. They can significantly increase student engagement with plant-based eating while being relatively straightforward to implement. These simple choice architecture changes can signal commitment to environmental sustainability, help to normalise plant-based eating, and begin to realise the benefits of a plant-based transition for universities. 

Make Use of Support Services

Various non-profit and other organisations exist to support caterers in transitioning to more plant-based menus. Humane Society International/UK is one such organisation that has experience addressing the barriers and opportunities faced by catering professionals when implementing plant-based menu items. Its Forward Food programme offers free support to caterers seeking to realise the benefits of a shift towards plant-centric menus. The programme has already collaborated with over 30 universities, providing tailored support to catering teams on the most effective ways to create and market tasty and nutritious plant-based options. This includes hands-on plant-based culinary trainings, evidence-backed menu formulation strategies, and bespoke food sustainability reports. 

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