More sustainability on the plates
In the Sustainable Gastronomy Project, the restaurants are working on making the food on campus environmentally friendly, healthy and socially just. Now the interim review shows: the measures taken by the caterers are quantifiably effective.
ETH Zurich wants to act sustainably on its campus and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2030. Food plays an important role. For some time now, ETH Sustainability and the Partner Organization section have been working with the catering companies SV Group and Compass Group to make the restaurants on campus more climate friendly. Since the beginning of 2022, they have been strengthening their commitment in the three-year Sustainable Gastronomy Project. This project has replaced the "ETH Gastronomy Climate Programme" and pursues the goal of making catering at ETH Zurich holistically more sustainable.
The standard is high: the university is committed to the ecological, social and ethically responsible food production and wants to promote climate-friendly and healthy nutrition. After a third of the project's duration, those responsible for the project are now taking stock for the first time.
The caterers on campus are on track
Of the 19 catering facilities on campus, 16 restaurants and cafeterias of the SV Group and the Compass Group are currently participating in the project on a voluntary basis. In addition to requirements such as climate protection (continuous reduction of greenhouse gases by 15 percent from 2022 to 2024 compared to 2019), the project also enables the caterers to set individual priorities: The companies can compile a set of ambitious and measurable goals from a previously jointly negotiated catalogue of targets.
The evaluation of the first project year 2022 shows: Both SV Group and Compass Group have achieved their goals and significantly increased sustainability in ETH campus catering. With regard to the core mandate of reducing emissions in the shopping basket by five percent in 2022, both even exceeded the targets: SV Group (-8 percent) and Compass Group (-5.5 percent).
“In the Mensa Polyterrasse, in the Clausiusbar and in the food market H?nggerberg, we have greatly expanded the vegetarian offer in 2022 in order to make an important contribution to ETH Zurich's net zero target.”Christian Kaiser, SV Group, Restaurant Manager ETH
These successes were made possible by the facilities offering more vegetarian and vegan menus, reducing the amount of meat and fish in conventional menus and serving more white meat instead of red meat.
Sustainability proven to increase
The focus on a plant-based diet is one of the strongest levers for reducing climate and environmental impacts. Currently, around 50 percent of the menus sold at ETH are vegetarian or vegan (not counting salad buffets). This is a good result compared to other universities. "In the Mensa Polyterrasse, in the Clausiusbar and in the food market, we greatly expanded the vegetarian offer last year," confirms the Restaurant Manager ETH from the SV Group, Christian Kaiser. The vegetarian and vegan catering offer was also expanded.
The proportion of dairy products was further reduced. With a few exceptions, such as fresh herbs, no goods were transported by air - but all the more seasonal and regional products. Finally, after a pause in measurement due to the pandemic, the caterers have been recording the proportion of food waste per menu again since 2022 and are implementing measures to reduce it even further.
“Classics like 'Schnitzel Pommes frites' are still the most popular. Our chefs are also varying these recipes to make them more sustainable by increasingly offering a vegetarian or vegan alternative.”Toni Votta, Compass Group, Head of restaurant Fusion
Fish and seafood are 100 percent from sustainable fishing or farming, with more than 80 percent rated green according to the WWF Fish Guide. The coffee is 100 percent fair trade, as is the sugar used to sweeten it. All egg products are at least from Swiss free-range farming. The soy cutlet is guaranteed to be made from certified soy or soy from uncritical regions. "The most popular, however, are still classics like "Schnitzel Pommes frites", says Toni Votta, manager of the Fusion restaurant on the H?nggerberg. "Our chefs are also varying these recipes to make them more sustainable by increasingly offering a vegetarian or vegan alternative," he says.
The caterers also succeeded in the individually chosen targets. These included measures for more animal welfare and more ecological production as well as health aspects such as vegetable proteins or unsaturated fats.
Reusable take-away boxes are now available in all restaurants. Nonetheless, many guests still use disposable containers. In the Clausiusbar and in the Mensa Polyterrasse, take-away menus are already only available in reusable boxes from reCircle. In the future, other restaurants will also move in this direction to avoid unnecessary waste.
Students want stronger commitment
ETH Zurich sees sustainability as a strategic task and is striving for the goal of net zero by 2030. This means that by then, the university may no longer cause any greenhouse gases on a net basis. This also applies to indirect emissions (Scope 3), which originate from consumed products and services and can only be controlled to a limited extent. In 2017, emissions from Scope 3 amounted to around 140,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalents (tCO2eq) - about ten times more than the direct emissions from fossil fuels (Scope 1) and the indirect emissions from electricity and district heating (Scope 2) combined.
The contribution of food to indirect Scope 3 emissions was estimated at around 5,000 tCO2eq in 2019, or a good 3 percent. This sounds like little, but in absolute terms it is quite a lot. Accordingly, the reduction of emissions from food is a high priority for the public and especially for ETH members.
Students and restaurant guests are also calling for more sustainable and climate-friendly dishes. Following the publication of the white paper "ETH Zurich strives for net zero by 2030", ETH Sustainability collected ideas for avoiding and reducing indirect emissions by means of a Miro Board in October and November 2022. The most frequent suggestions were for climate-friendly food: more vegetarian and vegan food, declaration of emissions or higher prices for CO2-intensive menus.
In fact, there is still a lot of room for improvement in the future. In the end, however, it is not only the offer that is the decisive factor, but also which menus or catering options ETH members chose.
“Thanks to ETH members ordering more and more vegetarian and vegan catering options for their events, we have been able to additionally improve our greenhouse gas balance.”D?rte Bachmann, Head of Sustainability SV Group
Adjustment in view of net zero by 2030
Ambitious but realistic targets are a prerequisite for sustainable ETH campus catering not only to keep pace with other universities, but also to continue to play an exemplary role.
On the reduction path to ETH net zero and together with the caterers, ETH Zurich is now exploring further opportunities and possible targets for catering that is reduced in CO2eq as well as ecologically and socially just for the coming years. Whether our university will achieve these goals is ultimately up to all of us. We have the choice on our plates.
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