The 21^st-century is seeing a major environmental crisis: climate change, biodiversity loss, soil degradation, rarification of water resources, and increased pollution. According to the IPCC, the 1.5-degree target could be reached by 2030 if greenhouse gas emissions do not drop radically. These disruptions have a direct effect on agricultural and food production systems, which are both significant contributors to environmental pressure and highly vulnerable to its consequences.

In a context of ecological, energy, and food transitions, RMT Actia Écoval’s purpose is to help food industry companies adopt a sustainable approach by understanding, evaluating, and implementing practices for reducing food products’ overall environmental footprint along the entire value chain.

This RMT began its work in 2026 and is set to run for five years.

Workstream 1: Understanding: Understanding all the environmental stakes of food production. Its keyword, “coherence”, refers to a systemic approach that views environmental impacts holistically, without overlooking or isolating any of them.

Workstream 2: Evaluation: The development of data, methodologies, and tools to measure food products’ environmental impact. This requires reliability and implies having a solid basis for the rigourous and reproducible evaluations that are crucial for making informed decisions.

Workstream 3: Reduction: The identification and prioritisation of methods for reducing the environmental impact of food industry companies. This is about recommending concrete, targeted actions that are appropriate to the reality on the ground.

Workstream 4: Transfer: Making the knowledge acquired operational by ensuring it is accessible and usable by a wide range of stakeholders: companies, technical centres, academia, institutions, and teaching establishments.