UMass Amherst Dining to Measure Carbon Footprint for Individual Dishes 

AMHERST — Bolstering UMass Amherst’s commitment to carbon neutrality by 2032, UMass Amherst Dining Services has made the commitment to measure the carbon impact of its menu. 

In doing so it will be the first college or university dining program in the country to include carbon footprint for individual dishes. 

The initiative will help students reduce their carbon footprint with their everyday food choices by including a carbon rating on the menu identifiers. In a fall survey of more than 800 people, 88% of students indicated the climate crisis informs their decisions at least some of the time. In addition, 75% indicated that they believe their food choices impact the environment and 76% said reducing their carbon footprint is important to them. 

Launching during Earth Week, the first phase of this project will feature an A-E carbon rating for all menu items at Hampshire Dining Commons on the menu identifiers, online and on the UMass Dining App. 

Determining the carbon footprint of a dish is a multi-faceted process that incorporates things like water consumption as well as storage and transport. To create a clear, concise way to communicate these values for their customers, UMass Dining is working with My Emissions, a leading provider of food carbon labelling. My Emissions’ standardized process makes it easy to calculate the carbon footprint from a recipe and demonstrates the impact of a customer’s food choices using a rating scale. Factoring in all the contributing elements, My Emissions has developed an A-E rating scale based on the carbon intensity (‘A’ signals Low impact and ‘E’ signals Very High). 

“Eating low-carbon food is one of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint,” said Matthew Isaacs, co-founder of My Emissions. “As an award-winning university food service provider, UMass Dining Services is the ideal partner for us to launch our carbon label into the U.S. I hope this inspires people to make more sustainable choices, and that many other institutions follow their lead.” 

Said Ken Toong, executive director of auxiliary enterprises, “we are excited to launch this carbon rating system in our dining program as part of our efforts to empower students with information so that they can make educated decisions for both their personal and planetary health.”