The effect, it claims, will be to enable its chefs to better measure the carbon footprint of the 180.9m meals they deliver every year.
In acknowledgement that a high proportion of the caterer’s footprint is attributable to food and drink emissions - 77% of its FY19 baseline and 66% of its FY22 carbon footprint - analysis of its 90,000 recipes has already started.
The service-provider also aims to support the wider industry through the development of pilots that focus on vital measurement metrics; reaching beyond carbon to cover priority areas such as biodiversity and water.
Carolyn Ball, director for delivery of Net Zero for Compass UK&I, said: “Partnering with Foodsteps across our UK and Ireland business will help us to accelerate progress in a data-driven way that allows us to better support our clients and their employees.
“The increasing convergence towards one global, standardised, diet is unsustainable and underlines why the menu is such a powerful and important ally for meaningful change.
“Focusing on better data so our chefs and operational teams are informed, empowered, and recognised for the positive impact they can have in every single service, is what we’re trying to achieve together.”
For its role in the partnership, Foodsteps will provide Compass’s operational teams with detailed, UK-specific data and analysis, offering both centralised and client-specific footprinting capability.
It says that a key benefit of this work will be the support it affords Compass chefs to experiment with different ingredients, measuring the impact of specific changes in pursuit of a centralised bank of recipes, as closely aligned as possible to the key climate goal of limiting the Earth's warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
It is hoped such significant analytical insight will increase the pace and development of a large scale, in-depth data set.
Foodsteps and Compass have already started to work together on how this analysis could help to inform and accelerate deep decarbonisation efforts already underway across the wider foodservice sector.
Commenting on the partnership, Anya Doherty, founder and chief executive of Foodsteps, added: “Through this partnership, Compass and Foodsteps are driving change at scale. 90,000 recipes across over 4,000 sites represents a huge opportunity for change, and we are incredibly excited to be the partner supporting Compass’ leading ambition to operate within planetary boundaries.
"What’s at stake is a measurable reduction in GHG emissions, and we are truly honoured to be playing our part in this alongside the amazing team at Compass UK&I.”