“Sustainability is expensive”: Examining SeaChange®
In this Q&A, Grace Galler of New Food talks with Adam Brennan, Chief Sustainability Officer at Thai Union Group, about SeaChange® 2030, a sustainability strategy designed with the environment and people in mind.
The seafood industry is still growing, with a projected value of about $257 billion in 2022. In fact, Statista projects that the fish industry will be worth $350 billionGiven the apparent market for seafood, what environmental initiatives is the world leader in seafood production, Thai Union Group, pledging to undertake? How is it interacting with different stakeholders and fisheries to guarantee openness and forward-thinking transformation, and where is it allocating its financial resources?
Q: What is Thai Union Group and who are you?
As Thai Union Group’s Chief Sustainability Officer, I am ultimately liable for determining the organization’s sustainability strategy and managing its global execution.
We are a Thai firm with global subsidiaries, including one in the United Kingdom. We are the owners of the John West brand and we supply some of the best shops in Europe through our sizable private label business. We have several brands throughout Europe, including Rügen Fisch in Germany and Petit Navire in France. We have a broad brand in the US called Chicken of the Sea, and we also have a group of brands in Thailand.
Q: What does sustainability mean to you in terms of global work?
I consider sustainability to be a truly holistic viewpoint. In terms of the methodology we employed when developing SeaChange® 2030, we considered the effects of the group as a whole. This was a result of social, economic, and environmental performance.
For Thai Union, sustainability is nothing new. In 2016, we unveiled our initial sustainability approach, which concentrated on two main problems. They were both under and above the water. Since we are a seafood firm without any boats, we have to work closely with our supply chain to make improvements in both the above- and below-water areas. Taking care of the crew members on board while transitioning additional fisheries to sustainable management is part of this.
I personally define sustainability as our new approach. All of the various business divisions within Thai Union as well as the collective effects on the social and environmental spheres are all factors that we have considered. This covers concerns like ocean plastics and biodiversity as well as climate change and ethical sourcing.
We wanted to confirm that there is more than one perspective that we are using to define sustainability. We have examined it from a social and biodiversity standpoint thus far. You notice that there is a lot of attention on climate change these days? However, the possibility of developing carbon tunnel vision also exists. To put it succinctly, sustainability is an all-encompassing plan of action that tackles the core risks and opportunities present in this
How much has the sustainability of seafood progressed since 2016?
When Thai Union first presented SeaChange® in 2016, we saw that there was a great chance for the seafood industry and ourselves to develop, to have more ethical sourcing methods and collaborate with our supply chain on projects that would benefit the environment and society.
Since 2016, I believe the industry and Thai Union have advanced significantly. Thai Union is now acknowledged as a pioneer in sustainable seafood. According to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, we are ranked #1. We are aware that being a leader in our field is a dynamic title. The fact that we are leaders now does not guarantee that this is how we will define leadership.
What is 2030 SeaChange?
SeaChange® 2030 aims to assist in transforming the seafood sector. Additionally, it is intended to offer cohesive solutions that benefit the world and its inhabitants. We have five future goals under SeaChange®, all of which will have an impact on the areas where we want to see good change.
The first concerns climate action and change. We acknowledge that although though seafood is frequently categorized as a protein with a lower carbon intensity, we nevertheless need to contribute to the decarbonization of the seafood sector.The subject of circularity is the second. There are two questions this raises. The first has to do with packing and the boxes our private label products are shipped in. It also involves examining plastics found in the ocean and the environmental impact of the manufacturing processes in our own facilities.
The third relates to biodiversity and the environment. Though it has emerged as a separate global concern from the shadow of climate change, biodiversity is nothing new to Thai Union Group. Since we made some of our first commitments about our tuna supply chain in 2016, we have been working on biodiversity-related issues. We are currently investigating how to duplicate that in various supply chains. doing more good in addition to improving things. We intend to actively participate in the restoration of ecosystems that are associated with the seafood sector.
On the people side, safe, decent, and equitable labor provision has been at the core of our marine chain strategy since the outset. Humans will always be at the center of everything we do. Though we have come a long way since 2016, our commitment primarily focuses on bolstering the several programs and initiatives that we have previously implemented.
The newest field is wellness and health. Although seafood is naturally healthful, we are establishing the first nutritional standards for our own range of branded items and will also be actively promoting excellent nutrition.
To ensure that their voices are heard, how much does Thai Union Group communicate with the seafood industry?
We have to collaborate with our peers and the industry. To assure the successful realization of our own goals, we must collaborate with scholars, scientists, and a wide spectrum of stakeholders. Since 2016, this has constituted the core of what we do.
You can see that we have worked closely with stakeholders on several of the collaborations we have established. With organizations like The Nature Conservancy, we have actual cornerstone projects wherein they help us execute our electronic monitoring agreement in our tuna supply chain. NGOs, civil society organizations, and our industry colleagues are all very essential. In light of this, we are pushing for a dramatic change across.
In order to teach participants in the seafood supply chain about sustainable improvements, how significant is education?
It’s critical to recognize that a lot depends on the kind of provider we’re discussing. The supply chain for seafood is incredibly dispersed. In the tuna industry, suppliers frequently possess a fleet of boats and are able to manage sizable businesses, which means they have ample resources for projects that occasionally require technical expertise.In contrast, we might visit a tiny family-run shrimp farm in Thailand in other portions of our supply chain, one that has been in the family for many generations. Therefore, I believe that a lot relies on the kind of providers we are working with.
In any case, it calls for a conversation in which we sit down, build mutual trust, and communicate openly and honestly about our expectations, our understanding of their present performance level, and our suggestions for helping them close the gaps. We never walk into one of our vendors and feel like they immediately live up to our expectations. Since our standards are far higher than those set forth by law, it is our duty to assist in developing the programs that are required, implement programs to effectively drive remediation and close the gap, and eventually guarantee that our suppliers are following the path of continuous improvement.
SeaChange® 2030 is receiving $200 million from Thai Union Group. For what purpose will this money be used?
First, let’s talk about climate change. As the first seafood processor in the world, we have established science-based goals for scopes one, two, and three. And the introduction of scope three is a significant contribution in this case. This implies that this commitment now covers all emissions that are incorporated in our value chain, both upstream and downstream. That amounts to ninety percent of the greenhouse gas inventory of Thai Union, to put things into context. We are going to be investing a great deal of ourselves in this commitment. Additionally, a sizable portion of the funds will be allocated there.
Lastly, but certainly not least, are some of our goals for the aquaculture supply chain. Here, a significant sum of money will be invested in collaborating with shrimp farmers especially inside our supply chain and fulfilling our extremely ambitious commitments to responsible aquaculture.
Although the majority of the financial resources will go to these three, the other eight pledges won’t go unfulfilled. Every one of the eleven is related. Each of them contributes to changing our understanding of what constitutes sustainable seafood.
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To what extent does finance play a role in creating lasting change?
It is quite basic. It is essential to the success of our SeaChange® 2030 plan. Sustainability is expensive, and the work we’re undertaking to redefine leadership through this new approach is part of it. It’s time for us to deliver on our promises.
The $200 million investment is our net earnings for the previous year (2022). Since we are known for living the talk, we believe it is crucial to be open and honest about some of the resources we are allocating to this.
What guides the decisions made by Thai Union Group?
The core of our SeaChange® 2030 plan is people. Due diligence must be done properly throughout our supply chain, procedures must be in place, and we must be able to actively drive improvements by understanding what is going on in the chain. The seafood sector is a high-risk industry.As we proceed, our primary priority will always be people, regardless of the other obligations we have.