“The pilot aims to test not only whether the technologies work together but also whether their application is commercially viable”

Halotrade is currently running a pilot to track tea from Malawian farmers to UK-based buyers and to reward and incentivise sustainable business practices.

The year-long pilot project was unveiled at the One Planet Summit organised by President Emmanuel Macron in December 2017 by HRH The Prince of Wales.

More than 10,000 Malawian tea farmers could be reached by the pilot alone.

The pilot will provide the famers with digital identities, better data about their own land, and quicker access to cash at improved margins.

The pilot will also demonstrate how sustainability data can be derived and how this impacts and mitigates risk in the supply chain.

The project brings together expertise and technology from banks, blue chips and start-ups alongside the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability (CISL), and is funded in part by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID).

Throughout the pilot, Halotrade is working alongside start-ups Meridia and Provenance, as well as Unilever, Sainsbury's, SAPPI, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Rabobank, Standard Chartered and IDH (The Sustainable Trade Initiative).

The pilot launched on the ground in May 2018 and the project partners will be updating on progress in the coming months.

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UPDATE | PILOT PROJECT REPORT RELEASE - 17 SEPTEMBER 2019 : The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) report on the results of our year-long collaborative exploratory project has now been released. Read more here.