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Food, Climate, and Health

Caribbean Climate and NCDs Workshop Series

April 27, 2023

John Stoddard

Associate Director Food and Climate Strategies

U.S. Healthy Food in Health Care Program

Health Care Without Harm

www.noharm.org

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About me…

Boston, MA
Associate Director of Food and Climate Strategy, Health Care Without Harm
Urban and rooftop farming
Environmental Studies, Agriculture Food and Environment
Love to grow, cook, and eat food!

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Health Care Without Harm was founded over 25 years ago, based on the belief that… As the only sector with healing as its mission, health care has an opportunity to use its ethical, economic and political influence to create ecologically sustainable, equitable and healthy communities.

Our mission is to transform health care worldwide so that it reduces its environmental footprint, becomes a community anchor for sustainability and a leader in the global movement for environmental health and justice.

We conduct research, model strategic interventions and provide guidance and resources to spread and accelerate best practice in the field. And we have programs focussed on climate and health, safer chemicals, healthy food and others.

Practice networks for hospitals

In the US - Practice Greenhealth - https://practicegreenhealth.org/ - over 1500 hospitals
Globally - Global Green and Healthy Hospitals network - https://noharm-global.org/issues/global/global-green-and-healthy-hospitals - more than 1,300 members in 65 countries who represent the interests of over 36,000 hospitals and health centers.

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As places of healing, hospitals have a natural incentive to provide food that’s healthy for people and the environment in which we live.

www.healthyfoodinhealthcare.org

https://practicegreenhealth.org/topics/food

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Health Care Without Harm’s Healthy Food in Health Care program was launched in 2005, and works to harness the expertise, purchasing power and investments of the health care sector to advance the development of a sustainable food system.

�We believe that hospitals are influential institutions in their communities with the power to affect social, economic, and environmental determinants of health in their communities, and promote greater sustainability, equity, and health in the ways that food is not only produced, but processed, distributed, consumed and disposed of.

You see here a snapshot of the food work our network in doing and reporting to us through the Practice Greenhealth awards program.

We use and Environmental Nutrition framework which holds: “Healthy food cannot be defined by nutritional quality alone. It is the end result of a food system that conserves and renews natural resources, advances social justice and animal welfare, builds community wealth, and fulfills the food and nutrition needs of all eaters now and into the future.”

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Climate Change and Health

Diet-related disease and Climate Change

Both connected to diet
People with diabetes are at greater risk of experiencing dehydration and cardiovascular events during periods of extreme heat.
Extreme weather events disrupt access to medications.
Changing climate will make fruit and vegetables more more expensive making it harder to maintain a healthy diet.
Recommendations: government policies to encourage “healthy living” and preparedness plans for those at high risk

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Scientific consensus shows climate change is already damaging human health and health care delivery and will have a greater impact in the future. Health care is at the front line of climate change, bearing the costs of increased diseases and more frequent extreme weather events.

The health care sector’s greenhouse gas emissions make up 8.5 percent of the U.S. total. If it were its own country, health care would rank 13th in the world for greenhouse gas emissions, more than the United Kingdom.

o Both connected to diet: what we eat affects our personal health and it also affects the planet and our climate

o People with diabetes are at greater risk of experiencing dehydration and cardiovascular events during periods of extreme heat

o Extreme weather events disrupt access to medications

o Extreme weather and changing climates will make fruit and vegetables more difficult to grow (crop failures) and therefore more expensive making it harder to maintain a healthy diet.

o Recommendations: government policies to encourage “healthy living” and preparedness plans for those at high risk

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Plant-Forward Diets: healthy people and planet

“Research shows plant-based diets are cost-effective, low-risk interventions that may lower body mass index, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels. Physicians should consider recommending a plant-based diet to all their patients, especially those with high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or obesity” - The Permanente Journal

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Climate Drivers in the Food System: Animal agriculture

Emissions from livestock production ~ 14% global GHGs
Production of animal proteins consumes 83% of available agricultural land

But generates only 18% of the total calories consumed by humans, and 37% of the protein consumed

The world population is expected to reach 10 billion by 2050.

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Here is another snapshot of livestock’s impact from the WRI. Animal proteins on the right side of the graph consume significantly more land and water than plant proteins and generate significantly more GHG emissions - amounting to about 14.5% of all global emissions.

Additionally

The production of animal proteins consumes 83% of the available agricultural land and generates only 18% of the total calories consumed by humans, and 37% of the protein consumed
Intensive animal production systems also impact health through dependence on medically important antibiotics at subtherapeutic does contributing to rise of antibiotic resistance

This resource use has food security implications in addition to climate. As incomes increase in lower-income countries, meat consumption will increase and the earth does not have the capacity to support 10 billion people eating meat at the rate some western countries do. It is incumbent upon countries with high rates of meat eating, like the US, to reduce their use of animal proteins in order to ensure that we can feed a growing population without pushing the earth to unsustainable thresholds.

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Livestock production is responsible for approximately 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. (or about half of all emissions from food)
Meat from ruminant animals, such as cattle and goats, are particularly emissions-intensive. (Tilman D, Clark M. Global diets link environmental sustainability and human health. Nature. 2014;515(7528):518-522.)

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Plant-Forward Diets: healthy people and planet

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Two recent studies underscore the importance of addressing emissions from our global food system. A 2020 article in Science asserts that even if every other sector of the economy met its climate targets, we would cross catastrophic climate thresholds if we do not address the food system.

A study released March 2023 in Nature Climate Change again found that food-related emissions alone could take us over the 1.5 degree threshold. The chart on the right shows the progress we could make in reducing warming by employing mitigation measures including food waste and diet.

“Previous studies have found that there may be synergies between actions associated with improving health and those associated with reducing GHG emissions intensity,” … We found that if dietary changes, [specifically the sparing consumption of red meat and the limited consumption of fish, poultry and eggs] were implemented globally, warming due to food consumption could be decreased by 0.19 °C by the end of the century… This amounts to ~21% of the anticipated warming due to sustained dietary consumption rates.”

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Resources for health care

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It’s All in a Name: How to Boost the Sales of Plant-Based Menu Items

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Boston Medical Center Rooftop Farm

Rohan Sookraj, Boston, MA

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Caribbean plant proteins

Kidney and lima beans, chickpeas, lentils, black-eyed peas, and other legumes are used in soups, stews, and rice dishes.

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The future never looked more delicious.

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What is plant-forward?

A style of cooking and eating that emphasizes and celebrates, but is not limited to, foods from plant sources—fruits and vegetables (produce), whole grains, legumes (pulses), nuts and seeds, plant oils, and herbs and spices— and reflects evidence-based principles of health and sustainability.

Culinary Institute of America

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What is Plant-Forward Future?

Plant-Forward Future is a curated set of resources from Practice Greenhealth, Health Care Without Harm, and our partners that will help health care facilities set a plant-forward goal, menu and market plant-forward dishes, and track their progress.

practicegreenhealth.org/plantforwardfuture

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practicegreenhealth.org/plantforwardfuture

Resources

Implementation: recipes and meal planning
Marketing and education: behavior change guidance, marketing collateral
Tracking: document change over time

Making the case

Arguments for a plant-forward meal program for 5 audiences in 3 areas: health, sustainability, the business case
Case studies that show success is possible

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practicegreenhealth.org/plantforwardfuture

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Plant-Forward Future: 2 paths

Forge your own path

Plant-Forward Future will help you

Make the case
Set a plant-forward goal
Plan your menu
Market wisely
Track your progress
Get recognition

Join the Cool Food Pledge

Work towards a collective goal
Position yourself as a leader
Get individualized, annual GHG analysis
Be part of a cross-sector cohort

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Cool Food Pledge helps dining facilities – from hotels and restaurants to universities, schools, hospitals, and workplace cafeterias – cut their food-related greenhouse gas emissions by increasing and improving their plant-forward menu options.

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The Cool Food Pledge helps members:

Pledge support of a science-based target for diet-related GHG emissions reduction,
Develop the best plan to bring about change, and
Promote success

HOW THE COOL FOOD PLEDGE WORKS

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PLEDGE: COLLECTIVE TARGET

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Food system GHG emissions (agricultural production + land-use change), Gt CO₂e/year

Sources: Searchinger et al. (2019), Science Based Targets Initiative (2019)

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PLEDGE:

Sign

Submit data

See results

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Spotlight: UC San Diego Health

San Diego, CA
799 bed teaching hospital
Joined Cool Food in 2018
Serves 600,000 meals per year

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https://practicegreenhealth.org/foodwastesolutions

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Climate Drivers in the Food System: Food waste

25-30% food wasted globally

Less than 3% recovered or composted

Methane 72 times more potent than CO2
Food waste - 8-10% of greenhouse gas emissions.

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Focusing in on the impact of food waste

Over one-third of food produced, both edible and inedible, is sent to landfills, contributing to a rapidly changing climate. Decomposition of food and other organic materials in the oxygen-poor landfill environment creates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that is 72 times more potent than carbon dioxide (over a 20-year period) and is a major contributor to the climate crisis. (Source: United Nations)
Less than 3 percent of U.S. wasted food is recovered (e.g., to feed people or animals) or composted, and the remainder is sent to landfills or incinerated.
The latest report from the lntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) titled ‘Climate Change and Land’ estimates that loss and waste of food caused between 8 and 10% of the emissions of the gases responsible for global warming in the period 2010-2016.

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Why reduce food waste?

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Similar to PFF, our food waste solutions toolkit contains a page on making the case. With food waste, food insecurity is a very powerful motivator as 1 in 6 people in the US experience food insecurity.

Climate Health: Wasted food accounts for approximately 20% of land, water and fertilizer use and 8% of global GHG emissions, and is the single largest material type in landfills. In the landfill, food and other organic waste decompose and generate methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. (ReFed 2019)

Food Security: Up to 40 percent of the food in the United States is never eaten. But at the same time, one in eight Americans struggles to put enough food on the table. (NRDC, 2019)

Financial Health: Every year, American consumers, businesses, and farms spend $218 billion, or 1.3% of GDP, growing, processing, transporting, and disposing food that is never eaten. (ReFed 2019)

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Why tackle food waste in health care?

U.S. health care institutions generate an estimated 23,500 tons of food waste each year.

Eliminating wasted food in U.S. health care could avoid generating CO2E emissions equivalent to taking 14.5 million cars off the road annually.

Health care must address the social determinants of health in their communities.

State and municipal policies on food waste diversion for large food providers are becoming increasingly common.

Hospitals are actively working to reduce their scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions and food waste is an easy access point to these goals.

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Health care produces a significant amount of food waste which contributes to their environmental impact, costs them money, and is a missed opportunity for addressing food insecurity in their communities.

A 200-bed hospital generates nearly 30 food waste per bed per day. With over 60,000 health care institutions in the US, that is an estimated 23,500 tons annually
If US hospitals eliminated or significantly reduced wasted food, they could avoid generating approximately 20,736,234 metric tons of CO2E emissions annually, the equivalent of taking 14.5 million cars off the road.
Experts have also projected that reducing food losses by just 15% would provide enough food for more than 25 million people living in the United States every year.
Further, we are seeing an increasing number of ordinances requiring large entities like hospitals to eliminate food from their waste streams and HCWH is positioned to support health carer in complying with these laws.

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Our solutions| Food Waste Solutions Toolkit for health care

“Not only does this project impact greenhouse gases by keeping food waste out of the landfill…it is also about dollars saved, which is important to hospital administrators, and then there is the food rescue piece which is what is really important to our community.”

– Jack Breezee, Sutter Health regional director of food and nutrition services

Health care is joining organizations across the country in the goal to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030.

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2020-2021 Sutter Health Pilot Case Study|California

10 Sutter Health Hospitals

65,000 pounds of food donated to 40 nonprofit partners, all within less than 5 miles of each facility

Tech solutions: Copia app used for tracking and donation logistics

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From Jan 2020 to Feb 2021 HCWH engaged Sutter Health’s 10 hospital facilities in the Valley Region in a grant-funded food waste prevention and edible food donation pilot program. The COVID-19 pandemic hit in the first few months of the pilot, which impacted food volumes, cafeteria sales, hospital staff capacity, and more. However, Sutter Health staff felt that the program was even more important in a time of unprecedented loss and upheaval.

The pilot also led Sutter Health to expand their food recovery program to six additional facilities within the Sutter Health system, and continue the program beyond the grant cycle.

Food recovery organizations to accepted food within less than 5 miles of the facility, a critical win.

Copia digital platform was used to track and redistribute waste.

“Not only does this project impact greenhouse gases by keeping food waste out of the landfill…it is also about dollars saved, which is important to hospital administrators, and then there is the food rescue piece which is what is really important to our community.”

– Jack Breezee, Sutter Health regional director of food and nutrition services

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Health Care Solutions: Sustainable Food Purchasing

Supporting sustainable, agroecological, regenerative agriculture practices that reduce synthetic inputs and build soil health.

Healthier Food Purchasing Standards
Anchors in Action
White Paper on Regenerative Agriculture

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Resources and learning

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Thank you!

Contact:

John Stoddard, jstoddard@hcwh.org