World Health Day 2024: the role of sustainable public procurement and the school food system
"My Health, My Right." This is the theme chosen on World Health Day 2024 to uphold everyone's right to have access to quality health services, education and information, as well as safe drinking water, clean air, good nutrition, quality housing, decent working and environmental conditions, and freedom from discrimination. Health means first and foremost healthy food, sustainable public procurement and school feeding.
Read more
Change the world through food! From 22 April a new challenge for European schools
Change the world through food! This is the slogan of Young Food Change Makers Challenge, the contest inviting students and their teachers to use their imagination, passion and work to generate ideas that address current challenges in the food system. Kicking off on 22 April, the contest aims to improve the health and wellbeing of the school community, learn new skills, create positive change and be part of a Europe-wide movement.
Read more
Launched proCURE, new EU project to implement sustainable and joint procurement in municipalities
Joining forces for sustainable procurement in small and medium-sized municipalities. That’s the mission of the new European project proCURE, which aims to implement long-term sustainable and joint procurement in small and medium-sized municipalities. The project runs from November 2023 until October 2025 and involves several european organizations including Fondazione Ecosistemi.
Read more
Joint letter to the EU Commission: more than 15 European organisations call for sustainable public food procurement
15+ organisations, sent an open letter to President Ursula von der Leyen and Commissioners EU with one clear message: let’s use public food procurement to provide more sustainable and healthier food. The European organisations call to clearly define the areas for the future development of minimum mandatory sustainable food procurement criteria and to include these 4 strategic minimum standards.
Read more
A look at what European schools have on their plates
How sustainable and healthy are school meals in Europe? The European project SchoolFood4Change, in which we are a partner, decided to draw a clearer picture of current food systems in European schools with the aim of bringing sustainable and healthy diets back on school menus. The mapping study, conducted by the Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn Center (SEI Tallinn) in Estonia, analyzes school food systems in 12 EU member states.
Read more
Open letter to VDL on EU legislative framework for sustainable food systems and the future of food
Fondazione Ecosistemi, together with 126 organizations, scientists and academics, today sent an open letter to Ursula von der Leyen on the EU legislative framework for sustainable food systems and the future of food. The European Food Policy Coalition denounces the absence of the Sustainable Food Systems Framework (FSFS) from the 2024 work program, asking her to implement the FSFS in this mandate as well. The letter also outlines the priorities that must be met for the announced "strategic dialogue on the future of agriculture" to be fruitful.
Read more
SF4C at World Food Forum: harnessing the potential of school meals to transform food systems for climate action
October 2023 offers two key moments for the global food agenda: World Food Day (16 October), and the World Food Forum – a youth-led movement and network to transform our agri-food systems (16-20 October, Rome, Italy). Tackling the critical interlinkages between food, water and climate, these two events are yet another opportunity for SchoolFood4Change to highlight the critical role of school meals in addressing the multi-faceted challenges of food systems transformation.
Read more
(E)mission (Im)possible open access course on climate action – 2nd edition
We have had a successful first version of our open access online course of (e)mission (im)possible! Thanks to the feedback received, we are launching a new, refined version of the course on the 16th of October, 2023. The course will be open for 2 months, until the 16th of december 2023. It is completely free of charge, co-funded by the European Union and organized and directed by six organizations in Italy (A Sud, Un Ponte Per, Fondazione Ecosistemi), Spain (Iroko, Bosque y Comunidad) and Portugal (AIDGLOBAL) and the University of Cadiz, Spain.
Read more
Public canteen stories: a Buy Better Food campaign online contest rewards those who publish them
The online contest dedicated to food in public canteens launched by Buy Better Food Campaign on UN Public Service Day is still ongoing. The goal of the story contest on food and mass catering is to highlight the importance of a good canteen and the role of sustainable public procurement in providing it. By collecting stories in #canteenfood, the contest's official hashtag, it aims to raise awareness and demonstrate that procurement has an impact on people's lives. People can enter the contest until Monday, Oct. 16, 2023.
Read more
Food System Summit +2: the concrete actions with SchoolFood4Change and BuyBetterFood
From July 24-26, 2023, Italy will host in Rome "Food System Summit +2", the second United Nations summit on sustainable food systems. Heads of state and government from the 193 U.N. member countries are expected to attend the summit, held at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). There are two projects in which Fondazione Ecosistemi is engaged with concrete actions to transform food systems.
Read more
Compraverde Buygreen Awards 2023: Italian excellences on Green Public Procurement
The 17th edition of the Forum Compraverde Buygreen, promoted by Fondazione Ecosistemi, presented the Compraverde Buygreen Award: the only award in Italy dedicated to the best Italian GPP experiences. This year's edition saw the best experiences awarded in the sections: Culture in Green, GPP Policy, Green Canteen, Social Procurement, Vendor Rating and Sustainable Procurement.
Read more
Compraverde 2023: how to make public procurement sustainable with environmental and social criteria
Forum Compraverde Buygreen, the main event in Italy and Europe for public and private Green Procurement policies, projects, goods and services, promoted by Fondazione Ecosistemi started today. The Forum focuses on the fundamental role of GPP in policies for decarbonisation, the circular economy and the protection of biodiversity.
Read more
EU poll reveals 93% of Europeans think food in public canteens should be guaranteed healthy
According to a recent poll, 93% of Europeans agree that the food offered in public spaces, like schools and hospitals, should be guaranteed to be healthy. In a Europe where 1 in 3 school-aged children is obese or overweight and 24.4% of children are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, ensuring healthy and sustainable food in public canteens is an essential investment of public money.
Read more
Forum Compraverde 2023: the highlights of the Green Procurement General Assembly coming up on 17 and 18 May
It will be may for the first time, on Wednesday 17 and Thursday 18, to host the 2023 edition of the Forum Compraverde Buygreen, the Green Procurement General Assembly, organised by Fondazione Ecosistemi at WeGil in Rome. "Change the purchases not the climate" is the urgent invitation that Forum's promoters are addressing to the main actors involved in the purchasing of goods and services.
Read more
Compraverde 2023: meeting on 17-18 May with the Green Procurement General Assembly
The annual Forum Compraverde Buygreen from 2023 will be held in May. This new timing is intended to further strengthen the forum's usability and contribution to green procurement and, more generally, to the country's ecological transition.
Read more
Subscribe to enjoy the SchoolFood4Change “News Bites”
The News Bites will update you bi-annually on the European SchoolFood4Change project. The content will focus on the most important progresses of the project, insights into activities and people behind the project, interesting news articles, SchoolFood4Change in the media and a summary of events done.
Read more
Manifesto for establishing minimum standards for public canteens across the EU
The Sustainable Food Procurement manifesto calls for a minimum standard for public canteens across the EU as part of implementing the Farm to Fork strategy. It contains precise targets, procurement tender criteria, verification and enablers for seven actionable target areas which go beyond ‘green’ (or environmentally friendly) public procurement.
Read more
Forum Compraverde Buygreen 2022: how to use PNRR funds in a sustainable way
The start of the annual Forum Compraverde Buygreen is just over a week away. The 2022 edition will take place in the historic WeGil building in Trastevere, on 19 and 20 October next and will be available in live streaming on www.forumcompraverde.it.
Read more
Small plate, big impact: Buy Better Food launches campaign for healthy school meals
The Buy Better Food Campaign has initiated an EU-wide petition for ‘A healthy meal for every child in every EU School’. The aim is to invite cities and citizens to urge EU and national policy makers to implement sustainable school meals for the implementation of the EU Farm to Fork strategy.
Read more
Call To Action! Online course pre-registrations are now open!
The online course is free and offers to to development, cooperation and humanitarian aid sector professionals, volunteers students and teachers a 25 hours long training course, which can be certified with ECTS credits.
Read more
Procura+ Awards 2022: meet the shortlisted candidates
The shortlisted candidates for the 2022 Procura+ Awards have been selected in all four categories: Circular Procurement of the Year, Innovation Procurement of the Year, Procurement Initiative of the Year and Sustainable Procurement of the Year.
Read more
Ecosistemi alongside other partners for food system sustainability
Fondazione Ecosistemi has joined forces with other partners to transform the current public catering system into a healthier and more sustainable one with SchoolFood4Change coordinated by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability
Read more
GPP-STREAM: the final dissemination event is available online
GPP-STREAM project organised its Final Dissemination Event on 16-17 February 2022. The main objective of the event was to promote the project achievements and to disseminate the results of the regional action plans. Conference sessions are now available online.
Read more
GPP-STREAM Final event to be held on 16-17 Feb ’22
The final conference for the dissemination of results and sharing of good practices for sustainable development of the GPP STREAM project will be held online on 16 and 17 February.
Read more