skip to content

 

Sustainability

Laura Farrell joined the Environment and Energy (E&E) team for five weeks this summer, all the way from Canberra, Australia. Laura’s internship was part of the International Alliance of Research Universities’ (IARU) Sustainability Fellowships program. Her internship involved working with staff from the University Catering Service (UCS) to understand the impact the University’s food purchasing decisions have on cost and carbon emissions.

The key findings of Laura’s research are shown in the graphic below. The results show that during 2016 the University procured double the amount of meat than they did in 2015 due to UCS expanding its customer base. However, as a result of reductions in the amount of ruminant meat purchased (beef, mutton, lamb) - the associated carbon emissions of which are high - the University’s overall food related carbon emissions only increased by 50%. Furthermore, due to non-ruminant meats being cheaper to purchase, the overall costs of purchasing the meat only increased slightly. This change in focus to non-ruminant meats such as chicken is estimated to have saved the University approximately £23,600 and 27 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year.

Sustainable food graphic

Laura had to work quickly to understand the complexities of the University’s catering service, as well as collate and analyse vast amounts of quantitative and qualitative data, including surveying customers using the catering outlets run by the University.   

For more information on Laura’s research and sustainable food, please contact emd39@cam.ac.uk.