Ambitious New Climate Change Policy
Building on a long history of taking action to mitigate the food system’s role in climate change, Bon Appétit committed to reducing emissions by 38%, per calorie of food, by 2030.
The companywide commitment aligns with the science-based criteria of the World Resources Institute and objectives outlined by the Paris Agreement, which seek to prevent global warming past 1.5 Celsius. By targeting calories instead of a net emissions reduction target, Bon Appétit centers the conversation on food as a significant contributor to climate change. The company is working to achieve this ambitious calorie-based target without the use of external carbon offsets by arming its chefs, operations teams, and guests with new tools and easy ways to make food choices that are lower in carbon, such as:
- An update to Bon Appétit’s proprietary Food Standards Dashboard that now delivers World Resources Institute-compatible data tracking, synthesizing a complex set of purchasing and sustainability data to offer a snapshot of where greenhouse gas emissions are most impactful in an operation.
- Bon Appétit will continue to track red meat and cheese consumption through the Food Standards Dashboard, as it has done since 2007, and has set an aggressive target of less than 1-ounce-per-guest-per-meal for beef and less than 2.5 ounces for all meat, poultry, and seafood.
- Bon Appétit’s Plant-Forward Culinary Collaborative – a working group of chefs tasked with creating plant-forward resources for the company’s culinary staff – will work together with the company’s wellness team to conduct regional plant-forward trainings, helping to skew menus away from carbon-intensive meat and cheese, and toward plants.