Winner of sustainability award tracks coffee from space

Trade in Space were the winners of the Living Planet Symposium Sustainable Horizons Award, presented today at Living Planet Symposium in Vienna, in recognition of their innovative project that uses satellite data to track goods in agricultural supply chains. 

The Orbital Commodity Asset Securitisation (ORCAS) project combines Earth observation satellite data and software to trace commodities such as coffee and cocoa from farm to supermarket shelf. Using a combination of satellite imagery, machine learning and blockchain to track goods, the product boosts transparency and sustainability. Since 2020, the project has operated in 41 countries, reaching over 1.3 million farmers. 

The award is organised by the Young ESA Environmental Committee in recognition of innovative uses of Earth observation to tackle global challenges and protect our planet. ORCAS was chosen as the winning project because it demonstrated strong impact in the social sustainability domain, particularly in value chain tracking, which is a current strategic priority.