Tongue Technology

About Tongue Technology

Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) has engaged in a strategic partnership with Avalo, a startup utilizing artificial intelligence for plant breeding. The collaboration aims to enhance the sustainability of CCEP's ingredient sourcing, with an initial focus on sugarcane.

The core of the project involves using Avalo's AI technology to identify and select sugarcane varieties that produce higher yields while requiring less water and fertilizer. This initiative directly supports CCEP's goal of reducing the carbon footprint associated with its raw materials and advancing its objective to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040.

The technology functions by optimizing the crop selection process without resorting to genetic modification; the selected crops are grown naturally. Nicola Tongue, Director of Ventures at CCEP, highlighted that the partnership with Avalo accelerates their timeline, with a test crop planned for 2026 and a harvest projected for 2027.