Cool Food Badge: Understanding the Climate Footprint of Your Meals
Discover how the Cool Food Badge helps diners choose climate-friendly meals and enables institutions to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Cool Food Badge: Making Climate-Friendly Choices Easier
The Cool Food Badge is a certification label designed to identify dishes with low climate impact and help consumers make informed, climate-friendly choices when eating out. Developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) in collaboration with food industry partners, the badge reflects a growing movement toward sustainability in the food sector and supports global efforts to combat climate change.
Why Your Food Choice Matters: The Climate Connection
Agriculture and food production account for approximately a quarter of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Much of this results from livestock farming, land use changes, and food processing. As individuals and organizations look for meaningful ways to reduce emissions, dietary change is increasingly recognized as one of the most effective options. By choosing meals with a lower carbon footprint, consumers can tangibly support climate goals.
- GHG emissions from agriculture: Livestock, especially beef and dairy, produce significant methane and require extensive land, contributing to deforestation.
- Land use: Shifting menus towards plant-based food reduces deforestation pressure and lowers emissions.
- Food choices matter: Small daily decisions add up—collectively influencing food system sustainability.
Introducing the Cool Food Badge: What Is It?
The Cool Food Badge is a visible, consumer-oriented label awarded to dishes that meet a rigorous, science-based threshold for GHG emissions. Its aim is simple: empower diners to select foods that help the planet.
- Badge Criteria: Meals must have a carbon footprint below a set threshold (for lunch/dinner: 5.38 kg CO2e/portion in the US).
- Calculation: WRI uses life cycle analysis, factoring in ingredient production, supply chains, and land use.
- Nutrition Safeguard: Equally important, Cool Food Meals must meet minimum nutrition standards to avoid promoting unhealthy choices solely on environmental grounds.
How Is the Carbon Footprint of a Meal Measured?
WRI evaluates each dish using a custom tool that considers:
- Ingredients List: Determines types and quantities (e.g., beef, cheese, grains, vegetables).
- Supply Chain Emissions: Considers farming, processing, transportation.
- Land Use Impact: Considers emissions related to producing the food, including land conversion for grazing or crops.
The key is granularity: Each menu item’s footprint is calculated precisely, not merely by broad food categories.
Who Is Using the Cool Food Badge?
Panera Bread was the first restaurant partner to roll out the badge nationally, with over 55% of their entrees certified as Cool Food Meals. The badge is also found on menus at other major food service companies including Aramark and MAX Burgers, and large institutions like universities and healthcare facilities.
- Panera Bread: Pioneered badge adoption nationwide, labeling dishes online and in cafes, including favorites like Chipotle Chicken Avocado Melt and Broccoli Cheddar Soup.
- Aramark: Rolled out the badge in contract dining environments, offering climate-smart options to millions of diners.
- MAX Burgers: One of the first international chains to market Cool Food Meals in Europe.
What others are reading
The Cool Food Pledge: Commitment Beyond the Badge
For institutions, the Cool Food Pledge is a campaign inviting members to commit to a collective reduction in their food-related emissions—a target of 25% by 2030 relative to 2015, matching the ambition of the Paris Agreement.
- Science Guidance: Institutions receive help from WRI, Health Care Without Harm, and Practice Greenhealth to plan GHG reductions while protecting nutrition, financial performance, and diner satisfaction.
- Action Steps: Includes tracking food procurement, setting targets, reformulating menus, and promoting climate-friendly dishes.
- Impact Measurement: Pledge signatories use the Cool Food Calculator to monitor their emissions, land use, and caloric impacts.
Behavior Change: Making Low-Carbon Choices Accessible and Attractive
Research by Coolfood and partners demonstrates that diners are deeply influenced by menu design, meal descriptions, and the framing of choices—not merely facts about food emissions. Behavioral science is applied to make climate-friendly food desirable, convenient, and prominent.
- Menu Engineering: Placing cool options first, using enticing names and images.
- Descriptive Language: Highlighting flavor, provenance, and personality—not just sustainability stats.
- Nudges: Badges and designated sections signal climate-friendly picks, encouraging uptake.
Plant-Forward Menus: The Key to Meeting Climate Targets
No single strategy is as effective for lowering food carbon footprints as increasing the share of plant-based items. Meats, especially red meat, carry high emissions; swapping in grains, legumes, and vegetables yields major climate gains.
- Menu Remodelling: Institutions shift towards more legumes, grains, and vegetables.
- Featured ‘Cool’ Specials: Many partners regularly launch new dishes built around plant ingredients.
- Consumer Education: Campaigns inform diners about why plant-based foods are cool for the climate.
Measuring Success: The Cool Food Calculator
The Cool Food Calculator is a custom-built tool used by institutions to assess the climate impacts of their food procurement, providing feedback on emissions, calories, and land use. By inputting procurement data, food providers receive clear, actionable metrics, which in turn inform menu redesigns, ingredient sourcing, and promotional efforts.
Sample Metrics Tracked:
- GHG emissions per kilogram purchased
- Calories per meal portion
- Land use per meal (hectares equivalent)
Challenges and Considerations
Implementing large-scale dietary change is complex, involving considerations of nutrition, culture, cost, and operations. The Cool Food movement aims to balance environmental benefits with these realities.
- Nutrition Safeguards: Ensuring lower carbon meals are also healthy and satisfying.
- Diner Acceptance: Encouraging excitement, not resistance, by emphasizing flavor and experience.
- Institutional Change: Integrating climate goals seamlessly with financial and logistical needs of food service.
Wider Impact: Building a Movement for Climate-Friendly Food
By leveraging badges, pledges, and institutional commitments, Cool Food is driving a cultural shift. The more diners choose Cool Food Meals, the greater the reduction in food-related emissions, supporting efforts to contain global warming and conserve natural resources.
- Promoting Achievements: Institutions share their progress—helping inspire others to join the movement.
- Connecting Providers: Pledge participants access solutions from innovative food suppliers and sustainability organizations.
- Building Demand: As climate-friendly choices become mainstream, food providers respond with new offerings, accelerating change.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: What qualifies as a Cool Food Meal?
A Cool Food Meal must have a calculated carbon footprint below scientifically determined thresholds and also meet nutritional guidelines to ensure health and satisfaction.
Q: How is the meal footprint calculated?
The WRI carbon footprinting tool considers the origin and quantity of every ingredient, plus its associated emissions from production, processing, transportation, and land use conversion.
Q: What are examples of Cool Food menu items?
Popular examples include Panera’s Chipotle Chicken Avocado Melt and Broccoli Cheddar Soup. Many institutions also feature special plant-based options crafted for low carbon impact.
Q: Why is plant-based food so central to Cool Food?
Animal agriculture accounts for the largest share of food-related emissions; plant-based items require less land and produce fewer GHGs, making them the clear climate-friendly choice.
Q: How can restaurants or institutions participate?
They can join the Cool Food Pledge, use the Cool Food Calculator for procurement, and label qualifying meals to educate and inspire diners while tracking their progress towards emissions goals.
Quick Reference Table: Cool Food Badge & Pledge At a Glance
| Feature | Description | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Cool Food Badge | Label for low-carbon menu items meeting climate and nutrition criteria | Empowers diners, increases demand for sustainable food |
| Cool Food Pledge | Group commitment: 25% emissions reduction in food purchases by 2030 | Drives systemic change in food service institutions |
| Cool Food Calculator | Tool for measuring and tracking GHG emissions from food procurement | Guides menu planning, sourcing, and reporting |
| Behavioral Science | Menu design and descriptions entice diners to pick climate-friendly dishes | Accelerates adoption, reduces barriers to change |
Conclusion: Choosing A Climate-Friendly Plate
The Cool Food Badge and Pledge represent a new frontier for climate action—where food choices can be as impactful as energy or transportation decisions. By making it easy, delicious, and attractive to eat for the climate, the badge and supporting initiatives help institutions and individuals make a real difference. With ongoing innovation, transparent data, and ever-expanding partnerships, Cool Food is reshaping the way we think about what’s on our plate—and its impact on the planet. As demand for climate-smart meals grows, so too will the shift toward a healthier, more sustainable food future.
References
- https://www.wri.org/news/release-new-cool-food-meals-badge-hits-restaurant-menus-nationwide-helping-consumers-act
- https://practicegreenhealth.org/sites/default/files/2020-06/Cool%20Food%20Pledge%20brochure%20for%20health%20care.pdf
- https://www.aramark.com/newsroom/news/2021/cool-food-meals-coming-to-aramark-climate-friendly-meals
- https://rethinkpriorities.org/research-area/plant-based-diet-shift-initiative-case-studies-coolfood/
- https://umcpdieteticinternship.online/2022/03/03/understanding-the-cool-food-pledge/
- https://www.farmprogress.com/commentary/are-you-willing-to-take-cool-food-pledge-0
- https://coolfood.org/membership/
- https://www.sustainable.pitt.edu/cool-food-pledge/
Similar Articles
Read full bio of medha deb
