Food systems

2050 vision

Our dining practices emphasize food that is nutritious with a low carbon impact. We have a socially responsible food system that enhances food security for the UW community. Through strategic collaboration and improvements in our food procurement process, the UW’s food system is a leader in socially and environmentally responsible food service.

Actions

Flagship action: Establish working group

FS1 Flagship action: Establish a Food Systems Working Group with an initial focus on sustaining existing high-impact programs.

Across our campuses, many efforts already support food access, food production, applied learning and waste reduction but often operate with fragmented funding, limited staff capacity or minimal coordination. This working group creates a shared forum to better coordinate and strengthen UW’s existing food system programs. The working group will be led by Housing & Food Services and faculty in the Food Systems, Nutrition & Health Program, with participation welcome from partners at UW Medicine, UW Bothell, UW Tacoma and other interested members.

Input gathered during the Sustainability Action Plan development process pointed to several priorities for future collaboration. These included improving food access, supporting campus food pantries and farms, reducing food waste and expanding recovery efforts, advancing sustainable dining and procurement practices, and creating more hands-on learning and research opportunities connected to the UW’s food system.

Feedback also highlighted the value of better data to inform decision-making, particularly since the last comprehensive assessment of student food insecurity was conducted in 2019. The intended outcome of this action extends beyond the formation of a working group to the progress it enables. This includes clarifying priorities across the UW’s food system, advancing projects aligned with those priorities, and improving how outcomes are tracked and reported over time.

Timeline: Launch working group by the end of FY28

2026-2027 - Establish a coordinated approach for engaging UW stakeholders and partners in advancing food systems priorities across campuses and programs.
Late 2027 - Launch UW Food Systems working group.
2028-2030 - Develop shared food systems priorities and a portfolio of aligned projects, including applied learning opportunities, with outcomes tracked through existing SAP structures.

Tracked metrics:

Status of Working Group formation
Number of priority areas or actions identified by the working group
Priority metrics for food systems may include:
- Utilization rates of campus food security programs (e.g., pantry visits, program participation)
- Number of funded or staffed positions supporting food system initiatives
- Volume or percentage of food procured from local or regional sources

Campus connections: The Working Group will include representatives from each campus.

Funding needs: Requires staff time from HFS & faculty members for the management, oversight and participation of the working group.

Lead partners: Housing & Food Services; Food Systems, Nutrition, and Health Program faculty; UW Medicine

Coolfood Pledge

FS2: Join the Coolfood Pledge and work toward a 30% reduction in total food-related emissions.

This action focuses on reducing the environmental impact of UW’s food purchasing through a Coolfood-aligned approach. The Coolfood framework establishes climate and health targets to meet by 2035, including a 30% reduction in absolute food-related greenhouse gas emissions and a 40% reduction in emissions per calorie from a 2025 baseline. The framework also incorporates targets for increasing purchases of vegetables and plant-based proteins, along with new tools for tracking water and land-use impacts.

Shifts toward plant-forward menus is one of the most effective ways to reduce food-related emissions while supporting healthy and varied dining options. Vegetarian and vegan items already account for approximately 40% of UW Dining’s offerings. More detailed purchasing data can help identify opportunities to adjust recipes, expand lower-impact ingredients and increase plant-rich options over time.

The Coolfood framework supports flexible emissions reductions while balancing affordability, nutrition, and customer choice. It also provides a consistent methodology for tracking progress toward the reduction goal. Harborview Medical Center and UW’s Athletics concessionaire Aramark are existing Coolfood signatories. Their experiences with the Coolfood program provide a strong foundation as this approach expands across UW-operated dining facilities. The data captured through this effort will inform menu and purchasing decisions that align with UW’s broader climate and sustainability goals.

Timeline: Complete initial pilots by the end of FY31

2028 - Become a Coolfood signatory and work with Coolfood representatives, UW Dining and other participating food service units to establish a 2025 baseline and set targets for reducing absolute greenhouse gas emissions and emissions per calorie by 2035.
2029-2030 - Pilot priority procurement, menu and engagement strategies. Track greenhouse gas emissions, plant-rich food purchasing and water-footprint information where feasible.
2031-2035 - Expand successful strategies and report progress toward the Coolfood 2035 targets.

Tracked metrics:

Coolfood Pledge signatory status
Food procurement emissions baseline and reduction goal
Food procurement emissions progress data

Lead partners: Housing & Food Services, UW Food Systems Working Group

Campus connections:

Each campus that procures food as part of a UW-operated dining service shall participate in the reduction planning and reporting requirements associated with the Pledge.
Aligns with UW Bothell’s sustainability goals which emphasizes sustainable food purchasing and increased spending with plant-based and social impact suppliers.

Funding needs: Needs additional funding. Requires staff time from HFS, Procurement Services and UW Sustainability for program startup, oversight, annual data management and reporting. Participation in the Pledge will incur a small annual fee.

Overview

Across our campuses and healthcare facilities, food is sourced through complex global supply chains and distribution networks. Our food systems present an important opportunity to reduce emissions, prevent wasted food and increase food access across the University.

Food service on the Seattle campus represents roughly 4% of UW’s Scope 3 emissions. UW’s 2022 Greenhouse Gas Inventory found that protein, primarily meat and dairy, are much more emissions-intensive per dollar spent than other food categories. Those categories accounted for about 31% of Housing & Food Services’ food expenditures but were responsible for 65% of associated food emissions.

This reflects the higher resource and emissions intensity of many animal-based foods, including emissions from feed production, land use, energy use, and methane from livestock.

As part of this Sustainability Action Plan, the UW is committing to reduce food-related emissions by becoming a signatory to the Coolfood Pledge; a third-party framework with tools for decision-making and measuring progress. In order to better support this work at scale, this focus area establishes a University-wide Food Systems Working Group. The new working group will help prioritize and align actions across a range of topics, such as food access, purchasing, nutrition and waste. These actions will help move the needle on the SAP long-term goals and targets, particularly for the decarbonization and regenerative guiding priorities.