Quantis is releasing geoFootprint, a multimedia platform that is described by the organization as the ‘first’ to utilize satellite data to monitor on an interactive map environmental effects of food growth. Innovation holds the secret, the environmental consultancy claims, to ‘intelligent, scientific decision-making.’ Quantis, centered in Switzerland, is releasing geoFootprint today. The creation is the product of a multi-stakeholder effort and has been developed jointly with more than 25 collaborators, comprising Unilever, Nestlé Research, WBCSD, Mars, and the Nature Conservation Union.
A global analysis of the environmental impacts of crops is provided by the interactive mapping tool. The goal is to ‘bridge the gap’ between the steps required to create a more secure food environment and the expertise needed to achieve it. “It fills a huge knowledge gap which will allow us to promote sustainable agricultural transformation,” clarified Xavier Bengoa, head of geoFootprint project as well as a senior sustainability specialist at the Quantis. Agriculture accounts for 20 percent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, as per the FAO. Several major food corporations, including Nestlé as well as Unilever, which sponsored the initiative, have dedicated themselves to promoting regenerative agriculture through practices that sequester carbon into the soil.
But, to do so, food businesses need a clear picture of the impact their sourcing decisions have. The complexity of the globalized supply chain means this data can be illusive. Commodities that are traded globally have locally calculated footprints, indicating where you source ingredients from will impact the end product’s environmental impact. “While agriculture is one of the largest contributors to the climate and biodiversity crisis, it also represents one of the most high-potential solutions. geoFootprint enables companies to reduce the environmental footprint of crops in their supply chains through providing insights that – until now – have been nearly impossible to capture,” Bengoa noted.
The use of satellite data by geoFootprint has a unique methodology that aims to disintegrate information into implementable portions. In addition to monitoring improvements in land use to chart problems such as deforestation, geoFootprint explores issues such as fertilizer use, soil quality as well as biodiversity. “We use data abstracted from satellite imagery which provides information on high-resolution agriculture production locations, productivity and use of fertilizers, and also soil types as well as properties,” Bengoa told FoodNavigator. It is then overlaid with the environmental databases that describe the traditional management activities for various crops at the national level.
All these components are used to measure location-specific water and air emissions that are then converted into climate, soil, water, as well as biodiversity effects. We were advised that geoFootprint monitors 12 leading sustainability indicators. This includes the amount of production, yield; climate change (such as and which exclude deforestation); water scarcity; water withdrawal; strength of irrigation stress; acidification; freshwater eutrophication; aquatic eutrophication; soil erosion; soil organic carbon change; and the condition of habitats. Both measurements are locally measured at a 10×10 km resolution and then presented on a map-based interface. At 10×10 km resolution, details can be viewed or already consolidated at the national and sub-national stage.
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