NewTools was a four-year research project with the aim of providing both producers and consumers with better insight into the nutritional quality, and the social and environmental impact of the food we eat. The project was funded by the Research Council of Norway, and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health was the project owner with overall responsibility for administration and implementation.
The project brought together 28 partners from different sectors, including research institutions, the food industry, public authorities and independent interest organizations. Their collaborative effort aimed to support the transition to a more sustainable food system and consumption patterns by developing integrated indicators that assess both the health and environmental impacts of food.
The aim was to develop practical scoring systems with relevant and accurate indicators that can be used as guidelines in product development, policy formulation and purchasing schemes – while these should be useful tools for consumers. The results should consider specific Norwegian production conditions, while the methods should be flexible enough to be used on imported foods.
NORSUS has, in collaboration with NMBU, developed scoring systems for environmental and social sustainability. Food products are classified into five levels, from A to E, for both dimensions. The scoring system for environmental sustainability is based on the EU's Product Environmental Footprint (PEF), with additions for biodiversity on land and in the sea. The social scoring system is based on the UNEP guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA). Statistical analysis has been used to reduce the number of indicators without losing important information. Weighting factors have also been developed to give each indicator their relative importance when calculating an overall score.
Publications:
NewTools framework development-proposal for scope, system boundary and category selection
Scoring social sustainability of food products: A framework based on national-level data
A Multi-Indicator Framework for Environmental Scoring of Food Products
Nutritional Life Cycle Assessment –vurdering og testing av utvalgte metoder
Here you will find the final report on the project
