Item - 2024.IE15.1

The Executive Director, Environment and Climate, recommends that:

1. City Council direct the Executive Director, Environment and Climate, the General Manager, Children's Services, the General Manager, Toronto Shelter and Support Services, and the General Manager, Seniors Services and Long-Term Care in consultation with the Executive Director, Social Development, Finance and Administration, tbe Chief Procurement Officer, Purchasing and Materials Management, and the Medical Officer of Health, Toronto Public Health, to determine what combination of climate-friendly meals are feasible to meet the dietary needs and food preferences of populations being served by the three City divisions Seniors Services and Long-Term Care, Toronto Shelter and Support Services, and Children’s Services, and how to implement these changes at the plate level in order to meet the City's Cool Food Pledge and the C40 Good Food Cities Declaration commitments.

2. City Council direct the Executive Director, Environment and Climate to include in the upcoming Consumption Based Emissions Inventory report in 2027, the progress and actions in meeting Toronto's Cool Food Pledge and the C40 Good Food Cities Declaration commitments.

This report outlines the food-related greenhouse gas emissions associated with meals served by the City of Toronto in relation to its Cool Food Pledge commitment. Specifically, it outlines how the City of Toronto is exploring a shift to climate-friendlier meals in order to reduce corporate food-related greenhouse gas emissions and meet its Cool Food Pledge commitments.

In 2019, Toronto became a signatory of the World Resources Institute's Cool Food Pledge and committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from corporate food procurement by 25 per cent by 2030 relative to 2019 levels. The City is also a C40 Good Food Cities signatory, pledging to achieve a planetary health diet for Toronto residents by 2030. Furthermore, the City of Toronto is also currently undertaking actions that align with the Plant Based Treaty, a voluntary treaty that the City of Toronto has not formally signed, which aims to reduce the widespread degradation of ecosystems worldwide caused by animal agriculture by promoting a shift to more healthy, sustainable plant-based diets.

For the year 2019, Toronto's food-related emissions were measured at 46 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)¹. Of those emissions, nearly half were attributable to beef and lamb alone, which comprised only three percent of total food purchased by weight.

Corporate food-related procurement data

Three City Divisions -- Seniors Services and Long-Term Care, Toronto Shelter and Support Services, and Children's Services -- procure the vast majority of food purchased by the City of Toronto, serving approximately seven million meals annually. In 2022, these Divisions purchased a combined 3,207 tonnes of food, which resulted in about 43,905 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. Of that, 87 tonnes of food purchased were beef which accounted for 48 per cent of corporate food-related emissions.

City of Toronto Divisions are taking actions toward meeting the City of Toronto's Cool Food Pledge target. For example, in January 2024, Toronto Shelter and Support Services signed the Forward Food Pledge, committing to transitioning at least 33 percent of animal-based foods to plant-based by 2027 relative to 2024. Children's Services was able to reduce food-related greenhouse gas emissions by 43 percent relative to 2019 levels, surpassing the Cool Food Pledge target by almost eliminating beef from the menu.

Meaningful consultations with the varied populations being served by the City of Toronto will ensure that proposed strategies to meet the City of Toronto's Cool Food Pledge target do not further burden populations already disproportionately impacted by climate change, food insecurity and other inequalities.

The City of Toronto is taking steps in becoming one of the few jurisdictions in the world aiming to address this complexity by meaningfully reducing our emissions from corporate food procurement through key City of Toronto service areas. A multidisciplinary, multi-Divisional approach will help facilitate discussions and enable the City of Toronto to meaningfully reduce its food-related emissions while considering the complexities associated with serving climate-friendly meals through its services.

¹ https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/914f-2019-Corporate-Consumption-Based-Emissions-Inventory-Report.pdf

There is no financial impact to the approved 2024 Operating and Capital budgets for the Environment and Climate Division. Any incremental financial impacts will be included in future year Budget submissions across the three relevant City Divisions Seniors Services and Long-Term Care, Toronto Shelter and Support Services, and Children’s Services. 

The Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer has reviewed this report and agrees with the financial implications as identified in the Financial Impact section.