Abstract:  Biodiversity loss is one of the most urgent sustainability challenges and is closely linked to our food system. How food consumption is organized, especially in urban areas, will be crucial in shaping biodiversity‐friendly and sustainable food systems in the coming years. In this context, the integration of local and organic products into public food procurement can be a driver of increased biodiversity in our landscapes and greater dietary diversity on our plates. The purpose of this article is to explore the extent to which public food procurement can drive this shift towards a sustainable and biodiversity‐friendly food system. We conducted a systematic literature review and qualitative content analysis of 26 articles published in the European context that focused on sustainability in public procurement in order to identify key barriers and drivers affecting the share of biodiversity‐friendly, organic, and local products in public catering. After developing a conceptual framework based on the leverage points model developed by Meadows (1999), we contextualized the identified barriers and drivers in this model and sorted them into shallow and deep levers for increasing biodiversity. Our results indicate that key drivers for promoting biodiversity‐friendly, organic, and local food include political will, the involvement of all stakeholders along the value chain, and the need to initiate profound changes in actors’ values, the transition goals, and the rules of the system.

Keywords:  biodiversity; food system; local food; organic farming; organic food; public catering; sustainability; value chains

Published:   30 July 2025

Issue:   Vol 10 (2025): Perspectives on Food in the Sustainable City (In Progress)