The drive to reduce our Carbon Footprint and protect our environment has been heavily documented in recent times. Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States and co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 is one of the more renowned figures in promoting environmental awareness.
“Change can happen if we all live like we’d like the change” is a simple yet equally powerful quote from him that is aimed at individuals to take ownership in protecting the world we live in today.
Many of us have incorporated movements such as “Reduce-Reuse-Recycle” aimed at reducing our carbon footprint. I’m an avid coffee drinker and have recently purchased my own ‘Keep-Cup’ in a bid to lend my 1% to protecting the environment.
So where is the next movement? Where can the everyday person give another 1% in helping protect the World for future generations?
The global food system, from fertilizer manufacture to food storage and packaging, is responsible for up to one-third of all human-caused greenhouse-gas emissions. The ethical food market was worth over €10.5 Billion in the UK in 2015 and is projected to be worth over $800 Billion in the US by 2020.
But it’s not just about consumers, businesses also have a responsibility in protecting the environment. Many businesses take steps in order to help the environment such as Apple, powering all their data centres by 100% renewable energy. CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, stated that it’s “one of the pebbles in the pond that creates the ripple”.
This is where Evocco come in. Evocco looks to address these issues for both consumers and retailers. Consumers have the ability to quantify their carbon footprint from shopping by simply uploading an image of their receipt to the App. Evocco can then suggest alternatives and propose tips in order to reduce your carbon footprint when you shop next. At the same time, we aim to help food retailers take a step in the right direction by returning valuable insights on their consumers (such as basket, market and sustainability insights) that can then be tailored to support the business’ commercial goals.
The beauty of the concept is that the more food consumers using the app will result in more people playing their part in aiding our environment, but will also generate more useful data to allow food retailers actively improve the environmental score of the products they sell, reducing their company’s carbon footprint.
If you’re a food retailer looking to be the next pebble in the pond or perhaps even the run-of-the-mill food consumer looking to play their part, check out https://www.evocco.com/.
This blog is written by Adam Byrne from the Evocco team and edited by Ellen Le Bas. Evocco is part of the 2018 UCD Sustainability Launchpad led by UpThink in association with the UCD Energy Institute and sponsored by our Industry Partners. If you have any questions about the Launchpad programme email mary.cronin@upthink.works