Food
The food served in the campus cafeterias is responsible for 5% of UNIL's CO2 eq. emissions, around half of which is attributable to meat products, as well as 6% of its impact on global biodiversity (in 2019).
The figures from the missions cited above only correspond to the 2,39,500 meals served on average every day in the cafeterias and do not take into account the impact of the meals that the university community consumes on campus but brings in from outside. Indeed, surveys indicate that only one in three meals is sold in cafeterias.
Terms of reference
For more than 40 years, UNIL has made a clear distinction between the management of teaching and research activities and the operational management of the campus. For a long time, the catering offer was considered to be a service that the institution had to provide to its community. Eating habits are changing and carry cultural, environmental and ethical values, to which the institution must strive to respond.
In the context of a campus that is alive 24 hours a day, where members of the community will be more inclined to buy food on the site, what food offer does UNIL want to offer them?
With this in mind, since 2018 UNIL has had a reference framework for a balanced and sustainable food offer, setting targets for the operators of campus cafeterias in terms of the vegetarian offer, as well as criteria concerning the seasonality and provenance of products.
Since 2020, this framework has been contractually binding for all operators and regularly updated to keep pace with changing practices in the catering sector.
Environmental assessment
In order to assess the environmental impact of cafeterias and monitor the correct application of the reference framework, UNIL has been working for several years with the company Beelong. Beelong's work consists of evaluating the food purchased by restaurant staff by analysing its impact according to five criteria:
- Origin
- Seasonality
- Production methods
- Climate and resources
- Product processing
Gradual greening of the offer
For the past few years, UNIL has been working with its catering providers to integrate more food options into campus cafeterias. In addition to the daily vegetarian menu, the restaurants and cafés offer a vegetarian day every week across campus from September 2020.
Since 2022, two additional dishes on the daily menu have been converted to vegetarian.