Greening School Meals: Sustainability Analysis and CO₂e Mitigation Potential in Spanish Publicly Funded Primary Schools

Shifting the global food system away from overconsuming animal-based foods and toward plant-rich diets is crucial to tackling the world’s most urgent environmental problems, including climate change. National governments have a key role to play in this process, as public institutions like schools and hospitals are significant food consumers. This article aims to understand the extent to which current school meal menus in Spanish publicly funded primary schools align with sustainability and low-emissions standards. We analyzed 163 primary school menus from across all 17 Spanish autonomous communities. Among the results, we found that 79.1% of schools had unsustainable menus and that 87.7% emitted more CO2e than the proposed benchmark, suggesting considerable potential for policy actions.