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Skretting sustainability report 2020

Our migration towards a more sustainable future

Our ambitions

My aquaculture career began at Skretting in 1981 – and now 2021 will be my last year with the group, and also the last annual Sustainability Report that I help deliver, although I am sure that there will be many more to follow.
Trygve Berg Lea, Sustainability Manager Skretting
Trygve Berg Lea

This organisation has been on a remarkable journey these past 40 years – growing steadily and transitioning from working exclusively with small-scale, family-owned farms into a high-tech industry that’s an integral component of international supply chains. This prominent role has also seen us become a key part of multinational corporations.

Our purpose of ‘Feeding the Future’ is based on the challenge of feeding a global population that’s forecast to reach close to 10 billion people by 2050. This fast growth will lead to a dramatic increase in demand for seafood like fish and shrimp, and this in turn brings the challenge of increasing aquaculture production in a sustainable way. I remain convinced that we can achieve this if the whole value chain pulls in the same direction.

In this regard, our key sustainability ambitions are as follows:

  • Skretting will contribute to climate-neutral aquaculture production through feed
  • Skretting will foster sustainable aquaculture through increased resource and nutrient efficiency
  • Skretting will promote responsible sourcing practices
  • Skretting will contribute to improving the health of farmed fish and shrimp
  • Support innovation and the development of feed ingredients with a lower environmental or social footprint compared to conventional feed ingredients
  • We will have an open mind when finding solutions to emerging sustainability dilemmas

  • Skretting will contribute to climate-neutral aquaculture production through feed.

    Skretting has reported the GHG footprint of its operations since 2009. Looking to 2025, we intend to lead with a commitment to reduce our carbon emission both through our raw material purchases, and to make significant reductions in our energy usage in our operations. We will also adopt LCA methodology into the formulation of our diets to enable us to minimise the environmental impact of our feed products.

  • Skretting will foster sustainable aquaculture through increased resource and nutrient efficiency.

    Part of our core competence is knowing the nutrient requirements of the fish and shrimp that we make diets for. This is the basis of making efficient feeds with low feed conversions, while not wasting valuable nutrients. This also makes it possible for us to use feed ingredients that are not in direct competition with human nutrition, and which support the development of a circular economy. 

  • Support innovation and the development of feed ingredients with a lower environmental or social footprint compared to conventional feed ingredients.

    Widely regarded as unconventional feedstuffs of plant or animal origin, the main novel ingredient technologies currently being evaluated by the feed sector include microbial and insect-based protein and oil sources. Indeed, last year, with the support of valued customers, Skretting developed commercial diets that use algae oils containing EPA and DHA and high-quality proteins based on insects, and we will continue to look to advance these and other such feeds in several markets.

  • Skretting will contribute to improving the health of farmed fish and shrimp.

    Skretting is committed to working alongside customers to assist them and support their antibiotic reduction policies. We will achieve this by assisting in best-practice protocols as a service as well as offering a spectrum of feed additive solutions to reduce dependency and unnecessary use of antibiotics. Additionally, we will look to collaborate with other stakeholders and non-customers to establish best practice when it comes to antibiotic use. We believe that collectively these measures will help reduce the potential risks to people that are associated with anti-microbial resistance (AMR).  

    To reduce the risk of AMR, Skretting will stop sales of antibiotics listed as critically important for human health by the World Health Organisation (WHO) by 2025.

  • Skretting will promote responsible sourcing practices.

    In some regions of the world, the expansion of crops like soy and oil palm are associated with loss of biodiversity and accelerating climate change. Marine ingredients like fishmeal and fish oil can in some regions be linked to overfishing. Last year, Skretting launched its soy sourcing policy where we pledged to buy all soy and oil palm products from high risk regions deforestation free by 2025. Today, more than two-thirds of our marine ingredients come from fisheries that are certified as being responsible and in line with the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. We also actively support projects aimed at improving responsible fishing practices and encourage fisheries to become certified.

  • We will have an open mind when finding solutions to emerging sustainability dilemmas.


    Today it’s common to calculate the carbon footprint of products, and in many cases, people also perceive this as being the “footprint”. But this is not the case. Only focusing on the carbon footprint will lead to several dilemmas. In the case of aquaculture feeds, we have put a lot of effort into being able to formulate feed with a low inclusion level of fishmeal from wild fish. We have put in place measures to also use more fishmeal coming from by-products and trimmings, as opposed to whole wild fish directly utilised as fishmeal. In general, fishmeal from whole wild fish has a low carbon footprint. If our only aim was to reduce the overall carbon footprint, we might increase the use of fishmeal from whole wild fish, but this would be a development that takes us in the wrong direction.

As I reflect on the past 40 years, it’s abundantly clear that Skretting and the wider aquaculture industry have been consistently and proactively willing to meet sustainability challenges head on.
Trygve Berg Lea, Sustainability Manager Skretting

Today, we buy deforestation free soy from Brazil, which comes with a high carbon footprint due to historic deforestation in Brazil. We have no incentive in buying deforestation free soy as the carbon footprint of that product will be the same as from soy from recently deforested areas.

We have high standards for responsible sourcing, and we know we can influence our value chain. In this regard, a crucial question is, when we look at environmental performance in the value chain, when do we stay and try to influence a positive development and when do we walk away?

At Skretting, we think it is important to be open about our dilemmas and try to explain how we will try to find solutions which means we will need to balance between several sustainability issues. It’s also likely that many of our ambitions are aligned with those of agricultural feed producers.

As I reflect on the past 40 years, it’s abundantly clear that Skretting and the wider aquaculture industry have been consistently and proactively willing to meet sustainability challenges head on. My hope is that our sustainability journey and the efforts we have made offer the inspiration for other segments of the feed industry to follow.