CHEF measures every dish and ingredient on the EU’s own Environmental Footprint method: climate, land, water and resources, across all 16 indicators. One set of figures for your Scope 3 inventory, CSRD and nature disclosures, client tenders and the claims on your menus.
Food sits where carbon accounting, nature reporting and consumer law meet. Measuring it once, on a recognised method, covers all three.
Purchased food is often the biggest Scope 3 category for hotels and caterers. It is also the category most often estimated from spend rather than measured.
Large groups reporting under CSRD need figures from their outlets and catering partners.
CSRD scope as amended by Omnibus I, Directive (EU) 2026/470ESRS E3 (water) and E4 (biodiversity), and the ISSB’s nature work built on TNFD, ask about land use, water and pollution. Those are farming’s biggest pressures, and CHEF measures them for every dish.
ISSB nature-related disclosures, drawing on the TNFD frameworkEU rules on generic environmental claims apply from 27 September 2026. Replace vague wording with specific, method-based figures: “Rated A across all 16 EU environmental indicators” says something you can show.
Directive (EU) 2024/825. This is not legal advice: check claims with counsel.
Shares of the resort’s total, read from the chart: food is Scope 3, energy is Scopes 1 and 2. Food outweighs all on-site energy use by more than two to one.
“Until we got in Total Life Cycle we did not comprehend that the largest reduction in on-site emissions in the shortest time could be through adjusting our menus.”Managing Director, Celtic Manor Resort
We have worked with leading hospitality, travel and healthcare organisations
Every CHEF result is built from the same 16 EU Environmental Footprint indicators, so the figure in your Scope 3 inventory, your CSRD report and your client tender all come from the same data.
| Framework | What it asks about food | CHEF indicators that supply it |
|---|---|---|
| GHG Protocol Scope 3Category 1, purchased goods | Greenhouse gas emissions of the food you buy | Climate change, kg CO₂e |
| CSRD, ESRS E1Climate change | Gross Scope 3 emissions and reduction targets | Climate change, kg CO₂e |
| CSRD, ESRS E3Water & marine resources | Water use in water-stressed areas and water pollution | Water use (scarcity-weighted)Freshwater eutrophicationMarine eutrophication |
| CSRD, ESRS E4 · TNFD · ISSB natureBiodiversity & ecosystems | Land-use pressure and pollution reaching ecosystems | Land useAcidificationTerrestrial eutrophicationFreshwater ecotoxicity |
| CSRD, ESRS E2Pollution | Pollutants released to air, water and soil | Particulate matterPhotochemical ozoneHuman toxicity |
| CSRD, ESRS E5Resource use | Use of fossil and mineral resources | Resource use, fossilsResource use, minerals & metals |
| Tenders & green claimsClients, guests, EU Directive 2024/825 | Specific, evidenced performance in place of generic wording | A–E grade from all 16PDF certificatePublished method |
CHEF provides data for these disclosures. It is not a reporting platform or an assurance service. Which datapoints you must report depends on your own materiality assessment.
Import recipes from your costing software by spreadsheet, or build dishes from a name or a menu photo.
CHEFAll 16 indicators per serving, with each ingredient’s share, so you can see where the footprint sits.
CHEFMenu Overview CSV for every dish. Pro adds an ingredient-level CSV with all 16 indicators in native units.
CHEFMultiply per-serving figures by covers sold or purchase volumes, then roll them into your inventory, or let TLC do it.
You or TLC
One row per dish: grade, EF 3.1 single score, kg CO₂e, land, water and resources grades, nutrition, cost, GP and kg CO₂e per unit of gross profit.
91 columns per ingredient, including all 16 PEF indicators in their own units, every nutrient, the database item matched and a dish total row. Ready for your own analysis.
Four pages per dish, with the method version and issue date stamped on every page. Built to attach to tenders and client reports.
No black box: every figure traces back to a public database and the EU’s published method.
| Impact method | EU Environmental Footprint 3.1: 16 indicators, EU normalisation and weighting |
|---|---|
| LCA data | Agribalyse 3.2 (ADEME), cradle to plate, 2,500+ foods |
| Nutrition data | Ciqual 2025 (ANSES) |
| Functional unit | One serving, as weighed in the recipe |
| Single score | Milli-points (mPt) of the EF single score. Grade bands are set against a fair share for one main meal. |
| Versioning | Method version printed on every certificate (currently 2026.10) |
The assessment behind the Celtic Manor Resort breakdown above.Yes, for Category 1 purchased food using the GHG Protocol’s average-data method: weight of food × an emission factor from a recognised database. CHEF’s factors come from Agribalyse 3.2. Where you hold supplier-specific data, use it for those items.
Export per-serving figures and multiply them by covers sold or by purchased weights in your spreadsheet or reporting tool. TLC Certified does this for you, from your sales and purchasing records.
Auditors look for a documented method, traceable sources and consistent application. CHEF publishes its method, names the database item behind every ingredient and stamps the method version on each certificate. Assurance itself is up to your auditor.
Climate change is about a fifth of the EU’s weighting. Land use, water and nutrient pollution are where food has its biggest effect on nature, and they are what ESRS E3 and E4 and nature-related disclosures ask about.
Specific, method-based statements are far stronger than generic “eco” wording, especially under the EU rules applying from September 2026. Always state the method and check claims with your legal adviser.
Assess a menu in minutes, or talk to TLC about a full property assessment.
CHEFCalculator for Health, Environment and Food
Free A–E grades for climate, land and water from all 16 EU PEF indicators, with nutrition and allergens.