A SCHOOLBOY banned from eating his favourite chocolate spread could win £10,000 to make his ‘green food’ app a reality.

Theo McSharry, 12, from Oxford came up with the idea in order to help consumers choose greener food products.

Concerned about the impact the food industry has on greenhouse gas emissions, Theo came up with the Green Food Score app.

The app is designed to help people make sustainable choices about the products they buy at the supermarket.

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Theo has been living with his family in Mozambique since 2018, with his parents advocates for sustainable living.

A ban on Theo’s favourite chocolate spread due to the impact it has on the environment got the youngster thinking about the effect of other food products.

He said: “As consumers – particularly young, climate aware ones – we want to make informed and sustainable choices about the products we buy and the food we eat, but the information is not available or is too complicated to understand.

“We all have mobile phones these days, so I thought what if we could just scan a barcode and get the information on a specific product with a score of one to 10, to help show us how sustainable that product is.”

Theo hopes his app will bring together data on deforestation, transportation, packaging and waste.

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He has reached the final of the BT Young Pioneer Award, which this year encouraged young people aged between nine and 18 to come up with ideas to tackle climate change.

The winner will receive up to £10,000 in funding, and will be supported by BT experts to make their project become a reality.

Marc Allera, chief executive officer of BT’s consumer division, said: “We’re delighted to once again be sponsoring the Tech4Good Awards, which celebrates innovation in technology, and this year we’re focusing on climate change.

“It’s incredibly inspiring to see so many young people have so many wonderful ideas for this year’s entries.

“Using technology for good has been at the heart of BT Young Pioneer for over a decade, and once again this year’s finalists and their incredible ideas have the potential to make a real difference to each of our lives.”

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The winner will be announced during a livestreamed event on July 14.

Mozambique was described as ‘on the frontline of climate change’ in a United Nations (UN) report earlier this year.

The country has been hit by cyclones and destructive storms, with UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres previously saying the country faces a triple threat of ‘conflict, the climate crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic’.

BT has plans to become a net zero carbon emissions business by 2045, and has set out plans to electrify up to 28,000 of its 33,000 vehicles by 2030.

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