Diet for a Green Planet – URBACT Pilot Transfer Project 2014–2015

This so-called ”pilot transfer project” had two main goals and working areas:

1. To transfer the practice of the Diet for a Green Planet concept. Södertälje was the ”giving city” and the ”receiving cities” were Mollet del Vallès in Spain, Molétai in Lithuania and Lomża in Poland.

2. To influence policy makers in each receiving city to start the process of outlining a diet policy that supports sustainable public meals.

For 16 months the receiving cities (with support from Södertälje) worked to fully understand the Diet for a Green Planet concept and identify how it best could be implemented in their respective school/kindergarten canteens.

Coming from very different starting points in terms of organisational structure and other resources, the end result varied greatly between the three receiving cities. But that is the strength with the Diet for a Green Planet concept – it is a way to relate to food that is adjustable according to different locations and structure. It will result in different food on the plate, but still meet the criteria of the concept.

In spite of the short project time – 16 months – a lot was achieved, especially in Mollet del Vallès, where the entire public procurement process was revised to meet the Diet for a Green Planet criteria. Three kindergartens altered their meal service according to the concept and a diet policy was decided on, with political unity.

This project has been praised by the URBACT Secretariat many times as highly successful.

Read the final report from the project here.

Read about the project on URBACT's website.

Facts

• Project: Diet for a Green Planet – URBACT Pilot Transfer Project.
• Project period: 16 months during 2014-15.
• Participating cities: Södertälje (giving city), Mollet del Vallès in Spain, Molétai in Lithuania and Lomża i Polen (receiving cities).