New Research Finds Regenerative School Meals Could Feed Nearly 8 Million More Children Worldwide

• Stanford University, with support from The Rockefeller Foundation, releases first empirical evidence projecting the impact of climate change on school feeding programs worldwide.
• Analysis shows that shifting to regeneratively-sourced meals could stretch existing program budgets to reach nearly 8 million more children each year in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa

BELÉM, BRAZIL | November 17, 2025 ― During the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Belém, Brazil (COP30), Stanford University, with support from The Rockefeller Foundation, released new research that projects school meal programs could reach 8 million more children for the same cost with regeneratively grown staple foods (like rice, wheat, maize, and soy). The analysis draws on data from the Global Survey of School Meal Programs, country food basket data from the FAO, and regional weather and agricultural production data. Climate Resilient School Meals is the first systematic empirical study to assess climate risks to school feeding programs globally. In addition to demonstrating how regeneratively grown staples farmed in ways that restore soil health also improve lives and livelihoods, the report provides recommendations for countries to build greater resilience into food systems through school meal programs, while identifying the “hidden costs” of failing to act.

“School feeding programs provide more than 450 million children around the world much of their nutrition and are a critical piece of the global social safety net,” said Jen Burney, Professor in Global Environmental Policy and Earth System Science at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and Deputy Director of the Center on Food Security and the Environment at Stanford University. “Collectively these programs are a large player in the world food economy: they are exposed to climate change, and how and what they decide to procure matters a lot from a climate perspective.”

Food systems produce about one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, and agricultural expansion accounts for almost 90% of global deforestation. At the same time, the World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that over 2.6 billion people globally cannot afford a healthy diet, and 153 million children and young people go to bed hungry every night.

“Regenerative school meals are a powerful tool to feed children, make food systems more resilient against climate shocks, and strengthen local economies,” said Elizabeth Yee, Executive Vice President of The Rockefeller Foundation. “This new research adds to our understanding of how to help more kids get a nutritious meal every day while ensuring communities affected by climate instability have reliable access to food. The potential to feed nearly 8 million more children is a reminder that regenerative school meals are an extraordinary opportunity to help vulnerable people in a world beset by climate change.”

Today, school feeding programs are one of the world’s largest child-focused safety nets, according to the World Food Program’s State of School Feeding, they reach more than 466 million children globally, and roughly 10% of the world’s children access government provided meals. In addition, for every dollar invested in a school meal program, up to $35 is unlocked   because of the additive returns across multiple sectors, including returns to education, health, human capital, social protection, and agriculture outcomes. Research from the Lancet Commission shows that sustainable school meals could lead up to $70 billion in climate-related savings and $200 billion in diet-related healthcare savings.

School meals lay the foundation for lifelong dietary habits. Their vast procurement power ― often accounting for 70% of a country’s food procurement ― can drive demand for more nutritionally balanced, culturally diverse, and locally grown foods.

Accelerating Climate Resilient School Meals

Released as the conversation at COP30 focuses on agriculture, food systems, and food security, key findings in Climate Resilient School Meals include, among others:

• Climate change is making it harder to grow food ― and climate shocks such as extreme heat, drought, and flooding disrupt global food production, making food prices more volatile and food systems more vulnerable.
• For major global staples like maize, rice and wheat, regenerative systems tend to be more resilient than conventional ones, carrying major implications for policymakers.
• Along with regenerative production of these global staples, shifting procurement toward locally-grown and culturally relevant crops ― such as cassava, yams, cowpeas, and fonio ― could enable school meals programs to feed an additional 7.86 million additional children per year, without increased spending.
• There is a triple opportunity for school meal programs to protect children’s nutrition, support regenerative, climate-resilient agriculture, and reinforce local food systems and economies.

This new research was supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, which has committed more than US$220 million to food systems transformation initiatives. Building upon initial work in Brazil and Kenya, this includes US$100 million to reach 100 million children worldwide with more nutritious, locally grown, and regeneratively-sourced foods by supporting more than a dozen countries’ efforts to expand and further develop their school meal programs. The Rockefeller Foundation is also investing US$100 million to advance Food is Medicine solutions in the United States and over US$20 million for the Periodic Table of Food Initiative, which is providing standardized tools, data, and training to map food quality of the world’s edible biodiversity.

About The Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation is a pioneering philanthropy built on collaborative partnerships at the frontiers of science, technology, and innovation that enable individuals, families, and communities to flourish. We make big bets to promote the well-being of humanity. Today, we are focused on advancing human opportunity and reversing the climate crisis by transforming systems in food, health, energy, and finance. For more information, sign up for our newsletter at www.rockefellerfoundation.org/subscribe and follow us on X @RockefellerFdn and LinkedIn @the-rockefeller-foundation.