AUSTRALIA | Coca-Cola Europacific Partners has announced its investment in Avalo, a start-up on a mission to develop more sustainable crops.
Avalo uses pioneering AI-based technology to naturally breed seeds that require less water and fertiliser, ultimately helping farmers grow crops more efficiently in a wider range of environments.
The partnership is funded by CCEP Ventures. Avalo will join a growing portfolio of climate innovators helping CCEP tackle carbon emissions throughout its value chain.
CCEP will be working with Avalo to try and reduce the carbon footprint associated with the sugarcane used in CCEP products, with the aim of testing the technology within its own Australian supply chain in the near future.
Agricultural ingredients represent a significant proportion of CCEP’s value chain emissions but reducing the environmental footprint associated with growing key ingredients is a challenge.
Avalo’s lower-input crops, however, present an opportunity to tackle this at source by addressing the environmental costs associated with sugar cultivation, including the significant quantities of nitrogen and water required throughout the growing process.
Leveraging broader gene pools, wild varieties, and natural pollination, combined with predictive modelling and interpretable machine learning, Avalo accelerates the development of crop varieties that require fewer inputs while accelerating healthy crop yields.
"Ingredients represent one of the hardest to abate emissions areas in our value chain and by tackling the problem at its source, Avalo has the potential to create more sustainable crops - reducing our scope 3 emissions and adding value to growers and other stakeholders across the value chain,” said Nicola Tongue Associate Director, CCEP Ventures.
This investment supports CCEP's sustainability action plan, This is Forward, which includes the commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent (vs 2019 baseline) and reach net-zero emissions by 2040.
"We are thrilled to have CCEP as a strategic investor as we expand our work on sustainable sugar production. Their deep understanding of the beverage industry value chain and commitment to environmental stewardship makes them an ideal partner as we deploy our technology to address critical agricultural challenges,” said Brendan Collins, co-founder and CEO, Avalo.
