The health, environmental, and cost implications of providing healthy and sustainable school meals for every child by 2030: a global modelling study

Summary

This global modelling study by Springmann et al. estimates the potential health, environmental, and economic effects of extending school meal programmes to achieve universal coverage by 2030. The analysis integrates comparative risk assessment and food-related environmental footprint analysis across multiple scenarios of meal coverage, frequency, composition, and waste. The findings suggest that universal school meals with healthy and sustainable dietary composition could substantially reduce undernourishment, prevent over 1 million cases of non-communicable disease annually if dietary habits persist into adulthood, and halve food-related environmental impacts whilst generating net economic benefits through reduced healthcare and climate-damage costs.

Regional applicability

The United Kingdom has established school meal programmes, but this study's findings on optimising meal composition towards sustainable dietary guidelines and reducing food waste may inform policy refinements. The modelled health benefits—particularly reduction in non-communicable disease risk through improved childhood nutrition—are relevant to UK public health strategy, though the study's global scope requires contextualisation to UK-specific costs, food environments, and existing policy infrastructure.

Key measures

Prevalence of undernourishment; incidence of non-communicable diseases prevented per year; dietary-related mortality; greenhouse gas emissions; land use; freshwater use; diet costs; social cost of carbon; health-related costs

Outcomes reported

The study modelled health, environmental, and cost outcomes of extending school meal coverage to all children globally by 2030, incorporating scenarios of meal frequency, composition, and food waste. Health outcomes included changes in undernourishment, non-communicable disease cases, and mortality; environmental outcomes included greenhouse gas emissions, land use, and freshwater use; and cost outcomes included diet costs, climate-change damages, and health-related costs.

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