Our impact

Reducing carbon emissions

Though farmed salmon has a low carbon footprint compared to other animal proteins, we have a responsibility to reduce emissions from our production and supply chain to reach the Paris Climate Agreement.

Grieg Seafood has set emissions reductions targets approved by the Science Based Target initiative as well below 2 degrees. The targets span both our own salmon farming operations (scope 1-2) and our supply chain (scope 3). The vast majority of our total emissions are linked to the feed, the biggest input factor in salmon farming operations, and freight.

* ghgprotocol.org

How we will reach our targets

We are currently developing a systematic plan for our production and supply chain to reach our 2030 and 2050 targets. Meanwhile, we are engaged in different initiatives to develop technology with lower carbon emissions from our operations (scope 1-2). Our largest direct source of emissions is from the fuel that powers our boats, use of wellboats, vehicles, and on-site electricity generators.

We are testing out a variety of new technologies to reduce the carbon footprint, such as replacing the diesel engines used at sites with battery packs or hybrid solutions.
We are also taking part in developing new solutions. For instance, in Rogaland, we have a test project on one of our farms with a wind turbine and solar panel.
Before making any investments, we evaluate their potential carbon emissions and environmental impact. This is an integrated part of the capex process.

Generally, our efforts to move away from poor sites and increase production on good and more suitable sites are also contributing to lower emissions from our operations, as we can use the energy more efficiently.

Moreover, our general efforts to work more preventatively and reduce our footprint on the environment also reduce emissions. For instance, working preventatively with sea lice and avoiding treatments, reduces our need to use wellboats and other equipment with high emissions.

Electric and hybrid farms are examples of how we work to cut carbon emissions from our operations. Watch our hybrid system at beautiful Vannfjorden in Finnmark, the world’s most northern salmon farm, in the video over, and learn about how these solutions work.

We are also engaged in projects to reduce emissions from our supply chain (scope 3)

We have tested out methods to chill the salmon after harvesting, which made it possible to avoid ice in packaging and reduced the carbon footprint per kilo of packed salmon. We will invest in this equipment in the years to come.
We are partner to a project which replaces trucks with trains from Narvik in the north of Norway to Malmø in the south of Sweden, which reduces carbon emissions from part of the route to European customers. It is estimated that carbon emissions for this distance can be reduced by approximately 66%.
We are working to use our market power to halt deforestation, a contributor to climate change, connected to high risk feed ingredients in our supply chain. Read more about our policy and efforts here.
We are currently looking at how we can reduce our impact from feed ingredients.
We maintain a regular dialogue with our suppliers of feed, goods and services, and we discuss what they are doing to reduce their carbon emissions. Some of our suppliers already have their own carbon reduction targets. Going forward, we will encourage others to clarify their goals.

Where we are now

As salmon farming has low levels of carbon emissions from production, the vast majority of our emissions are linked to our value chain (scope 3). Feed and freight cause the largest impacts and will the the focus going forward. As for all companies, it is challenging to assess our scope 3 emissions, due to complexities in our supply chain and lack of standardized reporting systems. We are continuously working on improving our reporting. The numbers above are the best we have as of today.