HIGH FALLS, N.Y., Oct. 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HowGood, a SaaS data platform with the world's largest product sustainability database, announced today the integration of One Planet Business for Biodiversity’s (OP2B) newly-announced Regenerative Agriculture framework. The framework adds to the metrics available for food brands and suppliers to measure product impact in their sustainability software Latis.
As it stands, agriculture is a primary source of environmental degradation, accounting for 70 percent of global fresh-water use and a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, and is associated with 80 percent of global deforestation. OP2B, a coalition of leading global businesses committed to transforming agriculture to protect and restore biodiversity, has recently launched a Regenerative Agriculture framework to enable companies to effect positive environmental change and to provide consistency across the industry when scaling up Regenerative Agriculture practices throughout value chains.
HowGood customers will now be able to measure their products against the eight science-backed impact indicators outlined in the OP2B framework, including: soil organic carbon content; blue water withdrawals; number of crops per ha per crop cycle; percentage of natural habitats; pesticide usage – Environmental Impact Quotient; fertiliser usage – Nitrogen Use Efficiency; farmer household annual income; and key social indicators for farm community. With this information, global brands and retailers using the Latis platform by HowGood will be able to make changes to product development at the ingredient-and-supplier level, in order to improve product impact using uniform metrics, and thus contribute to a global agricultural transition.
“OP2B has provided the industry with critical guidance for improving our agricultural systems and restoring soil health. The integration of their Regenerative Agriculture framework into Latis is a great step forward in helping the global retailers and brands who use our platform to accurately measure and improve product sustainability,” said Alexander Gillett, Co-Founder and CEO of HowGood. “We’re excited to be able to provide our customers with access to OP2B’s standardized metrics and help encourage the transition to regenerative agricultural practices within corporate value chains. The better companies understand the impact of their products at a micro-level, the more effective changes they can make to reduce harmful practices and bring transparency to the food industry.”
“We are delighted with HowGood’s decision to adopt and implement our Regenerative Agriculture framework in their Latis platform,” said Florence Jeantet, Managing Director at OP2B. “This decision will certainly facilitate and accelerate the uptake of regenerative practices within corporations' supply chains and contribute to our common goals of providing consistency across the industry, driving the deployment of regenerative farming practices, informing corporate strategies, and measuring impact in a clear and transparent way.”
With Latis, brands can rapidly determine the impact of any ingredient or product against key environmental and social impact metrics like greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity, labor risk, animal welfare and more. Latis customers include the majority of brands within Danone North America, a business unit of Danone and one of the Top 15 food and beverage companies in the U.S. HowGood customers can leverage their data to power consumer-facing offers, such as Chipotle's "Real FoodPrint" feature, which launched in October 2020.
To learn more about HowGood and OP2B, please visit: https://howgood.com and https://op2b.org
About HowGood
HowGood is a SaaS data platform with the world’s largest database on food and personal care product sustainability. With more than 33,000 ingredients, chemicals and materials assessed, HowGood helps leading brands, retailers and restaurants improve their environmental and social impact. Through in-depth, ingredient-level insights into factors like greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity, labor risk, animal welfare, and other key impacts, HowGood’s data powers strategic decision-making for the sourcing, manufacturing, merchandising, and marketing of sustainable products.
About OP2B
One Planet Business for Biodiversity (OP2B) is a unique coalition of leading businesses that are committed to transforming agriculture to protect and restore biodiversity and farmer livelihoods. The coalition works to achieve this through promoting Regenerative Agriculture, product diversification and the protection of high-value ecosystems.
