FoodFacts reports that it now delivers comparable carbon footprints for more than 120,000 food products every week to retailers ICA Sweden, Coop Sweden and Axfood, which together represent around 90% of the Swedish grocery market.

The initiative addresses two key challenges: agreeing how food emissions should be calculated and having the technology to apply those calculations consistently at scale.

To establish a common approach, the Swedish Food Retailers’ Federation and the Swedish Food Federation commissioned the Swedish research institute RISE to develop an industry methodology for calculating food related carbon footprints, first published in 2023. In 2025, FoodFacts was selected to operationalise the methodology across the grocery assortment.

“For the first time, Swedish grocery retail has access to comparable carbon footprints across the food assortment, calculated according to a common methodology. This gives the industry a shared starting point to understand climate impact, prioritise action and strengthen climate reporting," says Jenny Hagberg, Head of Sustainability, Swedish Food Retailers’ Federation.

FoodFacts automates the calculation process by combining product information, including ingredients, packaging and geographical origin, with scientifically based life cycle data. This enables more than 120,000 product level footprints to be calculated and continuously updated, rather than relying on broad category averages. Two products in the same category can therefore have different footprints reflecting their individual composition and characteristics.

The current calculations primarily use secondary and representative life cycle data, enabling consistent coverage at scale. As more specific producer data becomes available, it can be incorporated within the same calculation, creating a pathway towards increasingly precise product footprints.

“Agreeing a common methodology is a major step, but applying it across more than 100,000 constantly changing products requires technology. FoodFacts turns that methodology into actionable climate data at scale, with the potential to incorporate increasingly specific producer data over time," says Alexandra Ferreira, CEO at FoodFacts.

2026 RTIH Innovation Awards

Grocery retail was a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.

Check out our winners here.

The awards celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world. Our winners were revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.

The event consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, awards ceremony presided over by award winning stand-up comedian, presenter, actor and broadcaster, Aurie Styla, and after party until 1am.