The CHEFS project grew out of an increasing demand from our Campus Carbon Calculator users for more Scope 3 data, and for more ways to understand and improve the sustainability of campus food systems.

A prototype of the CHEFS tool was developed in 2009 with the expertise of Earthshift, and piloted from 2009-2010 on 13 campuses, including Arizona State University, Boston University, Grand Valley State University, Furman University, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, The Evergreen State College, the University of California at Davis, University of Florida, the University of New Hampshire, Vassar College, Wesley College and Yale University.

Several of these campuses were instrumental in the original conceptualization of CHEFS, including Johns Hopkins University, whose Center for a Livable Future conducted the foundational research upon which the program is based, and Furman University, whose sustainability team encouraged CA-CP to create this resource.

Download the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future Report

Yale University, another pilot school, hosted two CA-CP Climate Fellows during the summer of 2009, engaged in research and outreach related to this project, and experts from across the university have consulted with CA-CP on how to make the tool as accurate and user-friendly as possible.

ARAMARK, a leading provider of college and university dining services, has supporting the development of the tool with active research and facilitation for its participating pilot campuses, and is the project’s Founding Sponsor. Ten of the 13 original pilot campuses are ARAMARK clients, and the company facilitated data collection for those campuses. The close partnership with ARAMARK has been one way to ensure that the tool has been thoroughly tested and is as relevant and user-friendly as possible to dining service operations on an institutional scale.