University in Schleswig-Holstein: CO2 score for environmentally friendly dishes!

From January 6, 2025, the CO2 footprint of warm dishes will be displayed in the canteen of the Schleswig-Holstein Student Union. These canteen are located in Kiel, Lübeck, Flensburg and Heide (Dithmarschen district). The CO2 score is specified in three categories, each with up to three stars: the lower the CO2 emissions of a court, the more stars it gets. An example: a vegan stew could get three stars while one portion of fries only achieves one star.

The criteria for the evaluation of the CO2 scores include seasonality, cultivation process, transport and processing. The data basis for this assessment is taken from the Eaternity database, which has been based on life cycle analyzes of food since 2009. In addition, the "Green Plate Challenge" is launched, a competition that students can submit with a low CO2 footprint, such as ndr reported.

sustainability and water shortage

The Eaternity database also offers information about the water shortage footprint of food that could be relevant for the new CO2 rating. The water shortage footprint depends on the amount of fresh water used in the production region and the relative water shortage of this region. In addition, the Eaternity Water Footprint takes into account the water shortage as a weighting factor for fresh water consumption. Water stress is defined by the ratio of the consumed to the water provided by precipitation.

Eaternity enables the water shortage factor to differentiate between 162 countries. Globally results from the data that the water that is consumed comes from regions with an average water shortage index of 0.51 (moderately to high). For example, a tomato produced in Spain needs 44 times more irrigation water than in Switzerland. Therefore, the water shortage footprint of an average Spanish tomato is 2400 times higher than that of an average Swiss tomato, such as Eaternity explained in detail.