Empowering local authorities to ensure that food bought and served across council services is healthy, climate- and nature-friendly, and never wasted.
London’s Food Purchasing Commitment
Context
Action on food can help to tackle many of today’s biggest health, environmental, economic, social and political challenges, including climate change. Food accounts for almost 10% of London’s consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions, because of the kinds of food we eat, how and where that food is produced, and the amount of it that is wasted. Many Londoners are also increasingly suffering from food poverty, with an estimated 1.5 million adults experiencing low or very low food security.
London’s local authorities are at the forefront of efforts to shift to a low carbon, healthy and fair food system in London. They recognise that they have a key role to play by making the food bought and provided across council services (including in schools, early years settings, and social services) more sustainable, healthier, and higher quality and wasting less of it, whilst ensuring value for money for their contracts. With many Londoners suffering from food poverty amidst the current cost of living crisis, ensuring access to healthy, climate- and nature-friendly food for their communities is ever more urgent.
Background
As part of London Councils’ One World Living programme to reduce the climate impact of London’s food system, in 2022 ReLondon, the London Borough of Hackney and Sustain convened a working group of 21 local authorities to develop a city-wide food procurement commitment to set targets in relation to food greenhouse gas emissions and food waste. The result, London’s Food Purchasing Commitment (LFPC) launched in March 2023, which sets a common minimum level of ambition for London’s local authorities, in line with their net zero and One World Living climate commitments, and the Mayor’s target to cut food waste by 50% per person by 2030.
The ‘refresh’
In October 2025, ReLondon, London Councils’ One World Living programme and the London Borough of Hackney launched a refreshed commitment, updating the LFPC to ensure it is more accessible and inclusive of boroughs at all stages of action and differing levels of control over catering contracts. This allows London boroughs to join the commitment at the bronze, silver or gold stage depending on where they are in their circular food purchasing journey.
| Bronze: engage and identify | Silver: measure and share | Gold: action and influence |
| Hounslow | Hackney | Newham |
| Lambeth | Barking and Dagenham | |
| Sutton (new signatory) | ||
| Croydon (new signatory) | ||
| Southwark (new signatory) |
All London’s local authorities are invited to sign the commitment to improve the environmental impacts of the food they serve and reduce the amount wasted, whilst ensuring value for money for their contracts.
Supporting documents
We have a number of supporting documents below which provide more detail on what the commitment entails, as well as practical support for how local authorities can reduce their food waste and the environmental impacts of food served across council services.
Watch our webinar on the refresh and hear from Commitment signatories about their experience
Local Authority Working Group
To learn more about the commitment and engage with other signatories or interested local authorities, ReLondon, the London Borough of Hackney and London Councils are convening a Working Group for local authorities to:
- Support local authority officers to ensure that food bought and served across council services is healthy, climate-and nature-friendly, sourced from sustainable food systems, and never wasted
- Facilitate sharing of good practice to help London’s local authorities to learn together and inspire each other
- Provide a forum where bottlenecks for progress can be brought to light and practical solutions shared
