We aim to calculate the CO₂ balance of 109,000 food products - and to make this data publicly available free of charge. This still needs some preparatory work. Can you help?
We create facts for a climate-friendly diet
30% of greenhouse gas emissions are caused by our diet. Unfortunately, however, politicians are avoiding this issue. Nutrition is hardly mentioned in the net-zero targets, and people search in vain for reliable figures or even effective measures.
Consumers are left on their own and do not know what concrete influence their diet has on the climate. That’s why we’re now taking this into our own hands - together with you! And the good news is that we are already very far away. But from the beginning …
100 % transparency for food products
We would like to calculate the CO₂ balance of 109,000 foods, publish it freely, and into the popular Codecheck app (3.5 million users). So that each and every one of us can then calculate the CO₂ balance of his or her own diet.
If, with your support, we develop this knowledge, collect it and make it accessible to the public, we create awareness for our consumption. And in this way we can encourage politics, media and business to participate.
Awareness creates change
With our database, we primarily want to get consumers on board. The pleasant side effect is that companies such as food manufacturers can also optimize their products by, for example, checking the Life Cycle Assessments of individual ingredients. Politicians, the media and institutions can access our information and integrate it into their work.
How we do this
In a first step, we had to research the missing environmental and nutritional data of frequently occurring basic ingredients, process them and transfer them to our database.
In a second step, we made assumptions about the origin of the ingredients, the transport route and the means of transport. Together with the ZHAW, we developed a model that estimates the greenhouse gas emissions of transport.
Now we have to transfer our preliminary work on the basic ingredients to the end products, correct errors in data sets and check the results manually.
What you can do for it
We focus on transparency. Not only for consumers, but also for our supporters. We have calculated the following in trial runs:
If 3 people work 8 hours with us, we can control about 400 products. At a rate of 35 per hour, this is just over 800 francs. In other words:
The calculation of a product costs 2 francs. The more support we get, the more products we can calculate - quite simply! Every franc counts! Do you want to participate?
Why we are convinced of the project
We, Judith Ellens and Manuel Klarmann, founded Eaternity in 2008. Today we are 8 people and support organizations all over the world in calculating the CO₂ balance of food.
For our crowdfunding project, an excellent basis is laid. The following 5 elements contribute significantly to this:
- We have been gradually building up our database for over ten years now. Thanks to good cooperation with partners, regular peer reviews and specially developed algorithms, we can determine an exact environmental balance according to the latest state of research. Together with you, we can now make this database fully accessible to the public for the first time.
- The environmental indicators go beyond CO₂ and have been carefully selected together with expert committees. In this way, we were able to ensure that a wide range of key indicators, such as climate and rainforest protection, animal welfare and water consumption, were used to achieve the most accurate balance possible.
- Thanks to the use of scalable, digital software technologies, we can process the large and complex volume of data well and thus use it optimally for our comparisons and evaluations. Not only do we demonstrate the sustainability of a production chain, but we also make comparisons with other products in the market. (See here)
- Comparison and rating are not limited to product categories. The product is always compared with all other products on the market. Since a standard portion size is used for standardization, comparability is ensured at all times. (See here)
Now we are happy to bring the project to a successful end thanks to your support and to create more awareness for our nutrition together with you. And, as I said, the more money we raise, the more products we can study. Maybe also your favorite food?

AVINA FOUNDATION
Eaternity was able to win the AVINA STIFTUNG as a partner for the project. In the course of this partnership, the AVINA STIFTUNG will double every franc of yours (up to a maximum of CHF 70’000 - just WOW!).
BAFU
The Swiss Federal Office for the Environment is also involved and supports us in implementing this project.
GERBERT RÜF FOUNDATION
With the Science Booster, the GERBERT RÜF STIFTUNG will also give us CHF 5000 in support for a successful project on top!
Consider helping us to ensure that we achieve our financing target.