In the restaurant of the future, visitors can read about the climate impact of their visit on the menu, just like they do with the ingredients or allergens of the meals. The CO2 calculator for meals, developed in collaboration with Finnish restaurant operators, helps restaurants and cafes on their journey to carbon neutrality. Customers are increasingly interested in climate issues, and user-friendly solutions have been eagerly awaited.

The development of the calculator started at the end of 2020 when OpenCO2net was selected for Forum Virium’s Mission Zero Foodprint project, which pilots new digital solutions and tools for restaurants and other food service operators.

“Climate issues are increasingly important to both consumers and restaurant owners. We have been developing the OpenCO2.net carbon footprint platform for four years, so when the Mission Zero Foodprint project sought partners to reduce emissions from restaurants, we definitely wanted to be involved”, says Sari Siitonen, the CEO of OpenCO2net Oy. “The advantage of the project was that we were able to develop our service further together with pilot restaurants that were enthusiastic about it.”

With the browser-based CO2 calculator for meals, restaurants and cafes can determine the climate emissions of their meals, develop recipes to be more low-emission, and examine, for example, the impact of different energy and transportation methods on overall emissions. The calculator is based on the OpenCO2.net carbon footprint platform, which includes over 500 emission factors related to food ingredients. Communicating the calculations is easy, as the calculator provides results in clear numbers, which restaurants can choose to share with their customers.

During the pilot phase, eight different restaurants participated in the development of the calculator, testing it, providing feedback, and refining it to be suitable for the industry.

“The development of the calculator with industry stakeholders has been in a key position in its implementation”, says Roosa Jaakkola, the head of carbon footprint services at OpenCO2net. “We wanted to create a calculator that is easy to use, reliable, and suitable for all industry operators. Without collaborative development, the calculator wouldn’t have become as good.”

As Finland aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035, it is expected that an increasing number of consumers will become interested in the emissions of services and products.

“It will be interesting to see in the future whether we will be able to read about the impacts of our food choices on the climate in restaurants, just like we can now read about special diets”, concludes Jaakkola.

Read more about the CO2 calculator for meals from the press release.

Further information:

Sari Siitonen, the founder and CEO, OpenCO2net Oy, p. +358 40 761 5221, sari(at)openco2net.