A Mission-Oriented Approach to School Meals

This policy report is part of a project on school meals led by Prof Mazzucato which includes high-level engagements and convenings and works with countries to showcase how school meals can feature as green and inclusive industrial strategy. This policy report is part of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose’s (UCL IIPP) publication series. Explore more working papers and policy reports here.

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A Mission-Oriented Approach to School Meals: An opportunity for cross-departmental and multi-sector industrial strategy | Policy Report No. 2025/04. 

Authors:

• Mariana Mazzucato | Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value, University College London and Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose
• Sarah Doyle | Policy Fellow, UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP)
   

Executive Summary:

To achieve the second United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 2) – to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture” – the global food system must transform. This will require cross-sectoral innovation and investment. For governments, it will require cross-departmental cooperation backed by new economic thinking.

In its current form, the global food system is unsustainable. It is failing to reliably feed billions of people, and as the world’s population grows, food insecurity, hunger, and malnutrition will become more acute. The global food system is also responsible for an estimated one-third of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and is the primary driver of biodiversity and ecosystem loss, and is a major contributor to land degradation and the global water crisis.

These challenges are social and ecological, but also economic. How food is produced, processed, distributed, consumed and disposed of is contributing to changes in temperatures and weather patterns, extreme weather events, land degradation, disruptions in the global hydrological cycle, and food waste, all of which are undermining long-term productivity. These challenges are exacerbated by a market in which corporate consolidation and a focus on short-term shareholder profits are prevalent.

Governments can translate food system challenges into market opportunities for companies that are willing to innovate and invest alongside governments. A powerful and widely overlooked lever for doing this is school meals procurement. A growing number of countries are implementing school meals programmes, which now reach about 466 million children, making them one of the most widespread social safety nets in the world. School meal procurement can be designed to create market demand for food that is healthy, sustainable, tasty and accessible, instead of only seeking the lowest-cost options.

Reference:

Mazzucato, M. and Doyle, S. (2025). A Mission-Oriented Approach to School Meals: An opportunity for cross-departmental and multi-sector industrial strategy. UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. IIPP Policy Report 2025/04. ISBN: 978-1-917384-38-4

Available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/publications/2025/sep/mission-oriented-approach-school-meals

Dissemination and Engagement

This policy report is part of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose’s (UCL IIPP) publication series.

Explore more working papers and policy reports here.