Take a minute to think about your grocery list for the week: Whether you’ve got broccoli, bananas, blueberries, or Brussels sprouts on the brain, they’ll likely be waiting in the produce aisle.

Well, just like you, grocery stores have their own grocery lists. And now, some are using AI to help create them.

One grocer that’s signed on to use this type of tech is United Natural Foods, the largest publicly traded grocery wholesaler in the US, and two of the regional supermarket chains it owns: Cub, primarily located in Minnesota, and Shoppers, primarily located in Maryland and Virginia.

• The company partnered with Afresh, a San Francisco-based software company that uses deep learning and reinforcement learning to help grocery stores forecast demand for produce, optimize ordering, and ultimately combat food waste.

By the numbers: So far, the tech’s full rollout has led to an 18% decrease in produce shrink—a significant improvement from even Afresh’s initial savings estimates on the intro call, Luke Anderson, CIO of Cub, told us.

“Thinking about the business model for grocery chains…any shrink, any food waste, is going to seriously cut into their profitability,” Alex Frederick, a senior analyst at PitchBook focused on food tech, told us. “Focusing on the food-waste issue and using tools like AI is going a long way to help grocery stores continue to operate profitably in this challenging market.”

Zoom out: Afresh has raised $148 million to date, and by year’s end, it’s on track to run the ordering process for 7% of produce sold in US supermarkets, CEO Matt Schwartz told us. Currently, more than 3,000 grocery stores in the US have signed on with Afresh, Schwartz said—14x growth from the company’s store count at the beginning of 2021.

Keep reading here.—HF

Salesforce is wading into the wild world of carbon credits.

The software giant will offer a new platform later this month called Net Zero Marketplace to sell credits that support ~90 different conservation and clean energy projects around the globe from developers including Climate Impact Partners, Cloverly, Lune, Pachama, Native, Respira International, and South Pole.

The move comes at a time when demand for carbon credits (aka carbon offsets) is skyrocketing as companies face increasing pressure to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions. That growth is likely to further accelerate as the “voluntary” part becomes a thing of the past, and governments increasingly put a price on carbon.

• The voluntary carbon market totaled $1 billion for the first time last year, according to Ecosystem Marketplace, and could reach $50 billion by 2030, according to estimates from McKinsey.

Big picture: Improving transparency and quality control in this largely unregulated market remains a significant challenge. Salesforce, with its 150,000+ existing customer relationships to make use of, sees it as a potential business opportunity.

The company plans to promote the platform to existing customers, like those using the Salesforce Net Zero Cloud application, per the Wall Street Journal, and charge buyers a transaction fee of 1.5%.

Read the full story here.—GD

Coworking is a weekly segment where we spotlight Emerging Tech Brew readers who work with emerging technologies. Click here if you’d like a chance to be featured.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in tech?

I evaluate startup companies for venture-capital investment based on product, market, and team considerations. If you’ve ever seen Shark Tank, it’s kind of like that, but with more high-tech companies and a lot more research (which we call due diligence).

What’s your favorite emerging tech project you’ve worked on?

I’m currently working with a company that’s solving the “range anxiety” issue for electric vehicles by expanding quick charging access to areas without a sophisticated electrical grid (think Appalachia, the Midwest, and many developing nations). Solutions like this reduce the barriers to adopting more sustainable options.

What emerging tech are you most optimistic about? Least?

I’m most optimistic about continued innovation in all things green energy (including renewables and battery improvements). I’m from the Midwest, and I’d love to see an advanced manufacturing and design revival for the region, taking existing factory infrastructure and re-imaging and repurposing it to produce more sustainable solutions.

I’m least optimistic about the future of autonomous vehicles at the moment—not because I don’t think the pursuit will continue to drive innovation—but because there’s a lot more work to be done on the legal/regulatory side prior to meaningful, at-scale implementation.

One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile?

I founded a company in high school called Bra Fusion. It didn’t go much of anywhere (and was decidedly not tech-y), but it was my first entrepreneurial endeavor, and I’ve been passionate about helping founders grow, scale, and succeed ever since! My entrepreneurship teacher, Ms. BBB, who encouraged me to take the entrepreneurial “leap of faith,” made a huge impact on my career trajectory.

Stat: Saudi Arabia’s gaming group…The Savvy Gaming Group…plans to spend $37.8 billion to acquire, build, and invest in gaming companies. The Saudi government claims this effort will create 250 gaming companies.

Quote: “Who’s driving?”—a pedestrian to New York Times reporter Cade Metz, who responded, from the back of a Cruise robotaxi, “No one.” Check out the insightful robotaxi ride-along from the NYT here. Oh, and if you’re into this sort of thing, we did a similar story about Waymo robotaxis last year.

Read: A profile of so-called nuclear bros, who believe we can solve our energy problems with atoms, uranium, and reactors.

Mind your business: Morning Brew’s Business Casual podcast, that is. Join journalist Nora Ali as she chats with creators, thinkers, and innovators about today’s biggest and most significant business stories, what they mean, and why you should care. Listen here.*

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Catch up on the top Emerging Tech Brew stories from the past few editions:

• Why United Airlines is betting $1 billion on flying cars
• Cars are now computers—and the auto industry’s cyber defenses may not be ready
• Why self-driving car company Cruise is bringing chip design in-house