From the food to the goods and services sector, tracking a product from origin to destination is gaining increased space in companies' climate and social commitment strategies. Effective green transition needs investments in transparency. Investments in traceability solutions for companies are essential to ensure business resilience and efficiency. Besides, they are also strategic for the decarbonization of production chains and the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals.


Luciana Antonini

<p>From the food to the goods and services sector, tracking a product from origin to destination is gaining increased space in companies&#x27; climate and social commitment strategies. Effective green transition needs investments in transparency.</p>
<p>Investments in traceability solutions for companies are essential to ensure business resilience and efficiency. Besides, they are also strategic for the decarbonization of production chains and the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals. Undoubtedly, traceability technologies are more advanced in the field, see the exponential growth of Agtechs, which are startups in the agribusiness sector. In Brazil, for example, the growth of Agtechs in 2021/20 was 40% compared to 2019 (<a href="https://radaragtech.com.br/dados-2020-2021/">Radar Agtech Brasil</a>). There are 1125 active startups, enabling solutions for other companies to achieve their carbon and ESG goals. Although this is not yet the focus of the investment - usually traceability in the agricultural sector and food industry is much more related to food safety issues - traceability as a supporting tool for decarbonization gains strength once climate change becomes a compliance issue.</p>
<h1>What is Traceability?</h1>
<p>With investors and consumers increasingly demanding transparency to understand the coherence of companies&#x27; actions, it is impossible to imagine any sector &quot;immune&quot; to traceability. This investment will need to be made in the short term, for better or worse. Only by adopting traceability systems will it be possible, in the face of a change in regulation, to explain how a product is made, from the choice of raw material, how much water is consumed, whether it involved slave-like labor, and how much carbon from production to distribution.</p>
<p>Traceability allows the construction of a product&#x27;s digital identity, and its journey from the origin, through the supply chain to the final consumer. This X-ray improves the business because the data generated is valuable information to review processes, make them more sustainable, review supply chains, and seek solutions for moments of disruption, such as the current one. In addition, of course, to meeting new demands from legislation, climate agreements, and consumers.</p>
<p>“67% of consumers want to know where their food comes from and 69% of people under 40 say they would pay more for electronics made from sustainable resources&quot; – World Economic Forum.</p>
<h1>Food Traceability</h1>
<p>It is in the field where traceability has become popular. The global market could reach $9.75 billion by 2028, more than double the amount recorded in 2020 ($4.54 billion), according to Emergen Research. As the key driver of growth, there are also more essential requirements for documentation and registration of each manufacturing stage. This is the case with beef produced in Brazil. No traceability, how to prove to investors, international buyers, and consumers that the food is produced sustainably and is not related to burning and deforestation.</p>
<p>As per the Radar Agtech 2020/2021 report, Brazil&#x27;s number of companies with solutions for traceability in agribusiness is 111, the third in volume in the sectoral mapping.</p>
<h1>Traceability for Decarbonization</h1>
<p>The global carbon footprint traceability market is estimated to reach $12.2 billion in 2025, a growth of 6.2% compared to 2020 (Markets and Markets).</p>
<p>In the material entitled <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/12/digital-tracing-industrial-carbon-emissions-decarbonization/">How digital tracing can reduce industrial carbon emissions</a>, the World Economic Forum points out that the transition to renewable energy is a direct way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Still, the decarbonization of indirect emissions from industries remains a significant challenge. And they have in traceability a solution.</p>
<p>Indirect emissions are, for example, those that occur in energy consumption during the transport and distribution of raw materials or are associated with waste disposal. These are scope 2 and 3 emissions in a company&#x27;s value chain. Depending on the industry sector, value chain emissions can account for 80% of your environmental impact.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2021/greenhouse-gas-emissions-pledges-data/">“A survey by The Washington Post shows that carbon emissions are underreported globally, because of the quality of the data and the inconsistency of the reports. Gap ranging from 8.5 billion to 13.3 billion tons per year.&quot;</a>​ </p>
<p>Businesses that emerge or point to traceability technologies for companies to deal with this immense challenge are a great investment opportunity. Because they will bring reputation and long-term sustainability – guaranteeing the license to operate – in addition to accurate information and results. And it&#x27;s time to be precise in our actions.</p>
<p>Returning to the World Economic Forum material, traceability technologies can help the industry with some challenges:</p>
<p>1. Offer detailed carbon emissions that are easy to access and share.</p>
<p>2. Deliver new competitive advantages: Benchmarking carbon footprint information across all industrial sectors will result in faster reductions in emissions and control costs for sustainable materials and manufacturing.</p>
<h1>Who are the companies that are paving this way?</h1>
<p>1. <a href="https://www.newlight.com/">Newlight Technologies</a> is a fashion industry biotech using blockchain to track the carbon footprint and supply chain of its brand <a href="https://covalentfashion.com/">Covalent</a>. The company delivers accessories with a regenerative material made from microorganisms found in the ocean, replacing plastic and fibers.</p>
<p>2. <a href="https://www.flexidao.com/">Flexidao</a> offers traceability of the energy used by companies and what this represents of CO2 emission (these are indirect scope two emissions)</p>
<p>If traceability in the field is an established path with proven results, traceability solutions are still a novelty in other sectors, such as decarbonization. However, I can only see this future: within a few years, each product will leave the factory with a digital identity, with a QR code or sustainable tag containing all the information from origin to carbon emissions. It will be much easier to decide from choosing what to buy to where to invest in composing an accurate and green portfolio.</p>
<p><em>Energy Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Energy &amp; Sustainability writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.</em></p>


Traceability is Essential for the Green Transition

Food waste and loss reach 30% and account for 8% of global CO2 emissions (Project Drawdown). Arguments that strengthen the increasingly appetizing theme of upcycled food.

<p>What is most fascinating in relation to the future are the challenges that come in the form of new paradigms and this goes, among other topics, through what we define today as food. From a great friend came the provocation to look at new business models that help in combating food waste. I added to this search the scale potential of these new products. Undoubtedly, solutions to avoid waste expand, both in investments and initiatives, given the increase in food insecurity related to social inequality and also by interruptions in the food production and supply chains, resulting from climate change. Food waste and loss reach 30% and account for up to 8% of global CO2 emissions (Project Drawdown). Arguments that strengthen the increasingly appetizing theme of upcycled food.</p>
<p>As the basis of the upcycled food strategy is the use of food leftovers, generally considered of low value, which would be sold as feed or simply discarded as ingredients for new products and foods. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the upcycled food market is expected to move $46 billion from transforming agricultural waste or by-products into ingredients. It is to make the most of what we have already produced, offering new value and creating a resilient and sustainable network.</p>
<blockquote><strong>About 40% of food is not consumed worldwide</strong></blockquote>
<h1><strong>I</strong>n 2022 you will order upcycled food</h1>
<p>Ecovia Intelligence consultancy released recent research in which it records 2022 as a key change: the year in which consumers will charge companies for the production of upcycled food. Among the reasons, are the greater visibility of products made with food usually discarded and that have gained standardization with the certificate of the <a href="https://www.upcycledfood.org/membership?gclid=Cj0KCQiAu62QBhC7ARIsALXijXTAS2pzHayq1kg024ZytQwnQIxDDHN2Kvw9zunGFeVjc5b-pmVNAYIaAgOlEALw_wcB">Upcycled Food Association</a>, launched last year. There are already more than 140 certified products. You can consult the list on the organization&#x27;s website, divided into four categories: food and beverages, personal care products, home products and pet food.</p>
<h1><strong>F</strong>rom beer to yogurt – companies discover the taste of upcycled food</h1>
<p>The upcycled food futures market began to take shape in 2020 when a team of experts from Harvard, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and ReFED named the movement Upcycled Food. Since then, startups and large companies have sought new technologies and solutions to immerse themselves in this, which is more than a trend, for sure. If we are looking for circular business models and zero carbon emissions, the food industry has the same responsibility as other sectors when it comes to reviewing the design of its products and ingredients: to take advantage of what is in circulation and what would be discarded – according to our old lenses – as a valuable ingredient.</p>
<h1><strong>D</strong>anone and the rescue of lemons</h1>
<p>Once upon a time there was a lemon that went to waste and was rescued just as it became yogurt. When I see upcycled food entering the planning of large companies, hope gains scale.</p>
<p>The launch, at the end of 2020, of the GOOD SAVE yogurt line was made possible thanks to Danone&#x27;s partnership with Full Harvest, an organization that “rescues” imperfect or surplus food and checks these future ingredients to return them to the industry.</p>
<p>On the site of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWWvwWG223Q">GOOD SAVE</a> Greek lemon yogurt Meyer, it is written:</p>
<blockquote>It is estimated that 1/3 of fruit and vegetable waste occurs on farms, with more than 10 million tons of products not harvested each year.</blockquote>
<blockquote>That&#x27;s why we created GOOD SAVE low-fat Greek yogurt – and why we love those rescued Meyer lemons. Less waste, more kindness.</blockquote>
<h1><strong>T</strong>he world &#x27;s largest brewery is saving grain</h1>
<p>Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) understood the value of the barley leftovers of breweries. Previously, what was considered low value and sold as livestock feed or discarded is now used as an ingredient in food products from other global manufacturers, such as Nestlé and Nomad Foods.</p>
<p>According to a report by the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/5d4fbb94-ec9d-4d3f-a3e4-e3b0a5652c13">Financial Times</a>, AB InBev is building two factories dedicated to processing the by-products of barley in protein and fiber, in order to use them as ingredients.</p>
<h1>The super heroes of food</h1>
<p>We are in the early days of upcycled food, so it is worth mentioning the pioneers, everyone who sees how the future will be and act to build it together. I will cite some other examples of companies and startups moving in this direction that you can find in <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2020/09/12-organizations-creating-food-products-from-upcycled-food-waste/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAu62QBhC7ARIsALXijXTuXA4Lbh_unQbfpKtqm-c0yjLr7cdUgf9V9qxqgkvph818UvC16fwaAu4wEALw_wcB">this article</a>.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://aquabotanicalwater.com/">Aqua Botanical</a> </strong>– Australia</p>
<p>The company calls itself the world&#x27;s first plant-based water by recycling the water used in the production of concentrated juices.</p>
<p>“Made 100% of fruits and vegetables”</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://pureplus.us/">Pure Plus+</a> </strong>- USA</p>
<p>The challenge, and it is working, is to turn imperfect fruits and vegetables into a sugar substitute powder that can be used in the manufacture of beverages and food products.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.toastale.com/"><strong>Toast Ale</strong></a> – United Kingdom</p>
<p>Beer made from leftover bread. The company&#x27;s calculation is that 24 million slices of bread are wasted every day in the UK. From the donation of slices that would be discarded, Toast Ale replaces one-third of the malted barley used in brewing.</p>
<h1>The size of the problem is the size of the solution</h1>
<p>Imagine that the 931 million tons of food wasted worldwide in 2019 (UNEP) became ingredients for the production of other products. This is one of the scenarios we have to ensure food in the future.</p>
<p>And Brazil, one of the largest global food producers, but also with high rates of waste and hunger, needs to start changing its lenses to see new scalable business models that contemplate what already exists in abundance, and design new paths from that.</p>
<img src="https://illuminem.b-cdn.net/articlebody/68bbb33ca18814d209b5e89b8fd491f61581f0e9.png" alt="Figure 1: Graphical addition by illuminem editorial team (Source: The Ellen MacArthur Foundation)">
<p><br/><em>Energy Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Energy &amp; Sustainability writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.</em></p>


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Luciana Antonini Ribeiro

Luciana Antonini Ribeiro

Traceability is Essential for the Green Transition

In 2022 you will order upcycled food

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