School meals should be treated as part of green industrial strategy, not just welfare policy

Three new case studies from the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose examine national school meals programmes in Brazil, Scotland and Sweden, showing how governments have shifted school feeding from a welfare policy into a mission-oriented industrial strategy. Published as part of an ongoing research project with the UN World Food Programme, the case studies build on the report A Mission-Oriented Approach to School Meals: An Opportunity for Cross-Departmental and Multi-Sector Industrial Strategy, published in September 2025, which set out the case for redesigning school meal procurement to maximise public value. The new research traces the evolution of each country’s programme and identifies the policy decisions that have delivered impacts far beyond the number of meals served. Together, the case studies offer practical insights for countries looking to use school meals as a driver of economic, social and environmental transformation.

The need for such approaches is urgent. Today’s global food system is unsustainable: it struggles to reliably feed billions of people while contributing significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, land degradation and water stress. School meals — already reaching nearly half a billion children worldwide — are one of the most extensive social programmes globally. Yet they remain largely designed as welfare provision rather than as a strategic economic tool. These case studies show what becomes possible when governments treat school meals as an investment, not a cost.

Lead author, Professor Mariana Mazzucato (Founding Director, UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose) said: ‘School-meal programmes are about more than expanding welfare provisions and providing basic nutrition to vulnerable children. When designed properly and incorporated into broader industrial strategies, they represent a powerful opportunity to transform entire food systems and advance wider development goals.’

In Brazil, researchers examined the Programa Nacional de Alimentação Escolar (PNAE), highlighting its role in advancing national food and nutrition security goals. A requirement that at least 30% of food is procured from local family farmers has helped stimulate local economies, with some regions sourcing entirely from these producers. The study suggests that further investment in technical training could strengthen farmers’ ability to meet procurement standards and expand the programme’s impact.

In Sweden, the national ‘school meals mission’ has integrated objectives across health, climate, environment and social wellbeing. Through the innovation agency Vinnova, the programme has supported pilot projects that generate practical insights for schools and municipalities. The use of leverage points, from student participation right up to national goals and strategies, linked school meals to ‘not only nutrition, but regenerative agriculture, sustainable logistics, reduced food waste, public health outcomes, economic resilience, community interaction and social fabric, and innovative pedagogy.’ Sweden demonstrates how coordinated policy can unlock system-wide benefits.

In Scotland, the government is expanding universal school meals despite fiscal constraints, using the programme to tackle poverty, support local businesses, and improve health and educational outcomes. Public procurement plays a central role, encouraging participation from small and medium-sized enterprises and third-sector organisations while promoting innovation. In 2023, public spending on school meals reached £238 million; the case study suggests that a more coordinated, outcomes-focused procurement approach could further strengthen its contribution to Scotland’s broader economic transformation.

These case studies form part of a wider project on school meals led by Professor Mariana Mazzucato and her team at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, with funding from the UN World Food Programme. The project examines how school meals can be used as a strategic demand-side policy tool within mission-oriented industrial strategies, shaping markets for sustainable and healthy food for children while supporting broader food system transformation.

Case study — Brazil 
Case study — Sweden  
Case study — Scotland 
Full report — A Mission-Oriented Approach to School Meals 

Authors:  

Mariana Mazzucato 

Mariana Mazzucato (PhD, CBE) is Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London (UCL), where she is Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose. She is winner of international prizes including the Grande Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana in 2021, Italy’s highest civilian honour, the 2020 John von Neumann Award, the 2019 All European Academies Madame de Staël Prize for Cultural Values, and 2018 Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought. She is a member of the UK Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) and the Italian Academy of Sciences Lincei. In 2025, she was appointed Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for services to economics in the King’s Birthday Honours List. Pope Francis appointed her to the Pontifical Academy for Life for bringing ‘more humanity’ to the world.  

Her award-winning books include: The Entrepreneurial State: debunking public vs. private sector myths (2013 The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy (2018), Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism (2021), and The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens our Businesses, Infantilizes our Governments and Warps our Economies (2023). She advises policymakers around the world on innovation-led inclusive and sustainable growth. Her policy roles include: Chair of the World Health Organization’s Council on the Economics of Health for All, Co-Chair of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, member of the South African President’s Economic Advisory Council, Co-Chair of the Group of Experts to the Brazilian 2024 G20 Task Force for the Global Mobilization against Climate Change, and Special Representative of President Ramaphosa to the 2025 G20 Taskforce 1 on Inclusive Economic Growth, Industrialization, Employment, and Reduced Inequality.  

Dan Hill 

Dan Hill is a Visiting Professor of Practice at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP), and Director of Melbourne School of Design, the graduate school in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne. He was formerly Director of Strategic Design at Vinnova, the Swedish government’s innovation agency. A designer and urbanist, Dan’s previous leadership roles include Vinnova in Stockholm, Arup in Sydney and London, the Finnish innovation fund SITRA in Helsinki, Fabrica in Italy, and the Future Cities Catapult and the BBC in London. Dan is also a founder member of the Council on Urban Initiatives, a joint venture between UN-HABITAT, LSE and UCL. His books include ‘Dark Matter & Trojan Horses: A Strategic Design Playbook’ (2012) and ‘Designing Missions’ (2022). 

Eduardo Spanó 

Eduardo is the Co-executive Director and Founder of Instituto Jataí and a guest professor in the Executive Education program at Insper. He is a member of the Lemann Fellowship network of leaders at the Lemann Foundation.  

Laurie Macfarlane 

Laurie is a Co-Directors at Future Economy Scotland and visiting fellow at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP). He is also a council member of the Progressive Economy Forum (PEF), and a member of North Ayrshire Council’s Community Wealth Building Expert Panel. He is the co-author of the critically acclaimed book ‘Rethinking the Economics of Land and Housing’. Prior to co-founding Future Economy Scotland, Laurie was Senior Economist at the New Economics Foundation, Economics Editor at openDemocracy and a trustee at the Finance Innovation Lab. 

About UCL – London’s Global University: 

UCL is a diverse global community of world-class academics, students, industry links, external partners, and alumni. Our powerful collective of individuals and institutions work together to explore new possibilities. 

Since 1826, we have championed independent thought by attracting and nurturing the world’s best minds. Our community of more than 50,000 students from 150 countries and over 16,000 staff pursue academic excellence, breaks boundaries and makes a positive impact on real world problems. 

The Times and Sunday Times University of the Year 2024, we are consistently ranked among the top 10 universities in the world and are one of only a handful of institutions rated as having the strongest academic reputation and the broadest research impact. 

We have a progressive and integrated approach to our teaching and research – championing innovation, creativity and cross-disciplinary working. We teach our students how to think, not what to think, and see them as partners, collaborators and contributors.   

For 200 years, we are proud to have opened higher education to students from a wide range of backgrounds and to change the way we create and share knowledge. 

We were the first in England to welcome women to university education and that courageous attitude and disruptive spirit is still alive today. We are UCL. 

www.ucl.ac.uk | Follow @uclnews on X (formerly Twitter) | Read news at www.ucl.ac.uk/news/ | Listen to UCL podcasts on SoundCloud | View images on Flickr | Find out what’s on at UCL Minds 

About UCL IIPP:  

The Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) at University College London (UCL) brings together cutting-edge academic theory with teaching and policy practice, to rethink the role of the state in tackling some of the biggest challenges facing society.  

IIPP works with partners to develop a framework which challenges traditional economic thinking, with the goal of creating, nurturing and evaluating public value in order to achieve growth that is more innovation-led, inclusive and sustainable. This requires rethinking the underlying economics that have informed the education of global public servants and the design of government policies.  

IIPP’s work feeds into innovation and industrial policy, financial reform, institutional change and sustainable development. A key pillar of IIPP’s research is its understanding of markets as outcomes of the interactions between different actors. In this context, public policy should not be seen as simply fixing market failures, but also as actively shaping and co-creating markets. Re-focusing and designing public organisations around mission-led, public purpose aims will help tackle the grand challenges facing the 21st century. 

IIPP is uniquely structured to ensure that this groundbreaking academic research is harnessed to tackle real world policy challenges. IIPP does this through its high-quality teaching programme, along with its growing global network of partners, and the ambitious policy practice programme. 

IIPP is a department within UCL - and part of The Bartlett, ranking number one in the world for architecture and the built environment in the world. 

For interviews or further information, please contact:  

Sol Hallam, Director’s Head of Communications, UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. Email: iipp-dir-comms@ucl.ac.uk Mob: +44 7503 575 719