• The partnership between the two technology centres will enable improvements to be made to the digital environmental assessment tool and progress to be made in automating data collection and calculation in agricultural and livestock systems.
• The collaboration also seeks to strengthen the dissemination and adoption of the tool throughout the agri-food sector.

 

The AZTI and NEIKER technology centres have signed a collaboration agreement to continue improving the ENVIRODIGITAL tool, developed by AZTI and based on the European Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology.

The platform, which is currently being used by several agri-food companies, enables companies to measure, manage and reduce the environmental footprint of their products and processes throughout the agri-food chain, from primary production (fishing, aquaculture, agriculture and livestock) to distribution and final consumption of food.

This new alliance will enable the incorporation of advanced automation functionalities in the collection and processing of data from the agri-food sector, facilitating a more agile and accurate environmental assessment based on real field information. In addition, both entities will join forces to promote the dissemination and adoption of ENVIRODIGITAL among companies and organisations in the sector.

AZTI brings its extensive experience in calculating environmental footprints and developing digital solutions for the food industry, while NEIKER contributes its solid track record in environmental assessment and calculating emissions from livestock and agricultural systems, as well as generating scientific knowledge aimed at sustainability in the primary sector.

‘We want sustainability to cease to be an abstract concept and become a practical tool for the sector,’ explains Olatz Unamunzaga, managing director of NEIKER. ‘To achieve this, it is essential to join forces and for both centres to contribute from our areas of expertise; in the case of NEIKER, from our knowledge and methodology in calculating emissions from the first link in the chain.’

For his part, Rogelio Pozo, CEO of AZTI, stresses that ‘our goal is to provide the agri-food sector with rigorous and easy-to-use digital solutions that help reduce environmental impact and improve the competitiveness of companies’.

 

Technology at the service of sustainability

ENVIRODIGITAL combines scientific rigour with an accessible interface for companies of all sizes.

Based on an algorithm that integrates 16 categories of environmental impact — such as the use of fossil resources or human toxicity — the tool generates a global indicator called Enviroscore®, which classifies products on a sustainability scale from A (best performance) to E (highest impact).

With this new collaboration, AZTI and NEIKER reinforce their commitment to sustainability, technological innovation and competitiveness in the agri-food sector, promoting solutions that contribute to reducing the environmental footprint of food and improving decision-making in the field.