Increasing Transparency: Lessons From Other Sectors

Sam Grimley

Sustainable Fisheries Partnership

Introduction • Transparency and disclosure reporting has become a

key focus of sustainability programs in other commodities (ex. Beef, soy, palm, etc.) • What is being reported? • What are the benefits of participation? Drivers? • What are the some of challenges and how are they

addressed?

• How does this relate to sustainable seafood transparency?

Types of Disclosure Reporting • Sourcing transparency

• What, where, production method? • Supply chains

• Sustainability commitments and progress • Public CSR reports vs self-reported

• Environmental impacts

• Ex. Carbon emissions, water consumption, etc.

Established Transparency and Disclosure Initiatives

Initiative Participation Many of these initiatives are voluntary, so what are major drivers of participation?

• Responsible investing/shareholders – Ex. CDP has 800 investor signatories; Sustainable Palm Oil Toolkit – used by finance companies investing in sustainable companies

• Demonstration of sustainability progress – Ex. Supply-change.org’s commitment progress platform for beef, soy, timber, etc.

• Industry competition – Participation of one company can incentivize competitors to join an initiative.

• Customer leverage – Ex. CDP has 89 major purchasing organizations; The Sustainability Consortium (ex. Walmart)

Other platforms utilize publically available data, such as CSR reports, to complete reporting.

Challenges and Solutions • Data and reporting

• Addressing data variations, collection, confidentiality, verification, etc.

• Duplication of efforts • Can create reporting burden for users

• Sustainability metrics • How do you measure sustainability progress given variations

such as commitments, sourcing, company size, etc.?

• Funding • Grants, participants, users

Considerations • Transparency/disclosure reporting is one element of a

comprehensive sustainability program

• Transparency can be used to demonstrate progress of sustainability goals

• Risk mitigation: Investors, customers, competition, etc.

Thank you!

SEAFOOD STEWARDSHIP INDEX Assessing the contribution of leading seafood companies to the

Sustainable Development Goals

We bring clarity on the expectations, role and

performance of companies in contributing to

sustainable development.

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We do this by benchmarking the contribution of

companies to the SDGs closest to their core business.

• Funds, houses and safeguards quality of SDG-related corporate benchmarks

• Publicly available, free corporate sustainability benchmarks

ESTABLISHING THE WORLD BENCHMARKING ALLIANCE

THE ACCESS TO MEDICINE INDEX 2016

‘Ranking companies on their actual behaviour doesn’t

only drive the top of the list to set new boundaries, it

also stimulates the companies in the lower regions to

change their strategy and behaviour.’

Industry specific The index maintains a strict industry focus, ensuring meaningful guidance and

comparison.

Stakeholder consultation

and expert review The methodology is developed in cooperation with a wide range of stakeholders,

including companies themselves. This process is supervised by an Expert Review Committee.

Focus on contribution

Inclusion based on scope The index includes all companies that fall within its scope.

Relative comparison The index is a relative ranking which compares companies with each other rather than

against an absolute, ideal state.

The index clarifies and assesses the contributions companies can make to achieve specific

sustainable development outcomes.

HOW DOES AN INDEX WORK?

• Marine and aquatic resources provide millions of people with income and nutritious food while facing

overexploitation and lack of good governance.

• Global seafood companies are identified as keystone actors in managing these natural resources and

global seafood supply chains.

• Financial institutions, retailers, governments and civil society experience a lack of insight into the influence

and contribution of individual seafood companies to more sustainable seafood production.

• The lack of understanding results in misconceptions about the actual impact and performance.

• The Index will help companies to better understand the expectations of stakeholders and will in turn

demonstrate how companies perform against these expectations.

• The Index will give credit to leading companies while holding others accountable.

RATIONALE FOR THE SEAFOOD STEWARDSHIP INDEX

KEY SDGS FOR THE SEAFOOD INDUSTRY

KEY SDGS FOR THE SEAFOOD INDUSTRY

Name Revenue in

$m (2015)

Country of

Origin

Ownership Ground-

fish

Small

Pelagics

Large

Pelagics

Shellfish Salmonids Farmed

White Fish

Cepha-

lopods

1 Maruha Nichiro 7,867 Japan Public ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

2 Nippon Suisan Kaisha (Nissui) 5,665 Japan Public ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

3 Thai Union Group 3,477 Thailand Public ● ● ● ●

4 Mitsubishi Corporation 3,300 Japan Public ● ● ● ●

5 Marine Harvest 3,187 Norway Public ● ● ● ●

6 Dongwon Enterprise 2,910 South Korea Public ● ● ● ●

7 Red Chamber Group 2,550 US Private ● ● ● ● ● ●

8 Kyokuyo 2,015 Japan Public ● ● ● ●

9 Marubeni Corporation 2,000 Japan Public ● ● ● ● ●

10 Austevoll Seafood 1,742 Norway Public ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

11 Trident Seafoods 1,550 US Private ● ● ● ● ● ●

12 Sojitz 1,400 Japan Public ● ●

13 Pacific Seafood Group 1,350 US Private ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

14 Tri Marine International 1,300 US Private ● ● ●

15 F.C.F. Fishery 1,300 Taiwan Private ● ● ● ●

16 Shanghai Fisheries General Corporation 1,078 China State-owned ● ● ●

17 High Liner Foods 1,002 Canada Public ● ● ● ● ● ●

18 Bumble Bee Foods 980 US Private ● ● ● ● ●

19 Labeyrie Fine Foods 951 France Private ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

20 Yokohama Reito (Yokorei) 902 Japan Public ● ● ● ● ● ●

21 Wales Group (Sea Value & Sea Wealth) 900 Thailand Private ● ● ● ● ●

22 Parlevliet & Van der Plas 885 Netherlands Private ● ● ● ●

23 Nomad Foods 867 UK Public ● ●

24 Young’s Seafood 866 UK Private ● ● ● ● ● ●

25 Calvo Group 860 Spain Private ● ● ● ●

26 Nueva Pescanova 857 Spain Public ● ● ● ● ● ●

27 SalMar 838 Norway Public ●

28 Hanwa Foods 806 Japan Public ● ● ●

29 Bolton Alimentari 787 Italy Private ● ● ●

30 Andrew Marr International 759 UK Private ● ● ● ● ● ●

PROPOSED COMPANY SCOPE

POTENTIAL MEASUREMENT AREAS

Governance, management and

stakeholder engagement

• Stewardship strategy

• Engagement with stakeholders

• Involvement in multi-stakeholder partnerships

Ecosystems

• Responsible sourcing

• IUU

• Traceability

• Catch methods

• Feed conversion

• Escapes

• Disease management

Human rights and labor practices

• Supplier screening and audits

• Occupational health and safety

• Freedom of association and collective bargaining

• Grievance mechanisms

• Forced and compulsory labor

• Child labor and young workers

• Gender

• Fair remuneration

Fair operating practices

• Compliance

• Business ethics

•Local communities

• Impact assessment and engagement with local communities

• Community development

• Access to and use of natural resources

INDEX DEVELOPMENT TRAJECTORY

A Brief History of

Sustainable Seafood

From fish fights to friendship

In the beginning

For much of the ‘70s and ‘80s, disagreements over the use of fisheries resources generally

ended up in court, most often pitting environmental groups

against a government fisheries agency. In 1995, the UN

adopted the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.

The Sutton Doctrine

In 1997, at an annual meeting of the National Fisheries Institute, Michael Sutton of the Monterey Bay Aquarium told those gathered that the sustainable seafood movement was about to change everything in their industry.

“We were laughed at and people smiled,” – Mike Sutton

The MSC arrives Although it was in its very beginning in 1997, the arrival of the MSC marks the transition from the old days of court-battle fisheries management to the market-driven sustainable seafood movement.

Give swordfish a break

The “Give Swordfish a Break” campaign in 1998 marked the first large-scale effort to mobilize US seafood buyers, chefs and consumer in support of fisheries conservation. It became a model for other similar efforts such as “Take a pass on Chilean sea bass.” (2002)

What’s in your wallet?

They have become a part of the seafood landscape, but back in 1999 the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s seafood wallet cards, which rank the sustainability of seafood based on a color (green, yellow, red) system, were new and controversial.

Sustainable seafood summit is born

The first seafood summit in 2002 largely went unnoticed by the seafood industry. Today it is one of the main seafood events of every calendar year.

Best Aquaculture Practices

In 2002, the Global Aquaculture Alliance created the Aquaculture Certification Council and introduced sustainable seafood traceability to the rapidly growing aquaculture industry.

Pollock and McDonald’s change the game

In 2004, the MSC got the traction it needed when it certified the Alaska pollock fishery, one of the largest fisheries in the world.

FAO eco-labeling guidelines are born In 2005, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization adopted guidelines for the eco-labeling of fishery products from marine capture fisheries, creating a baseline for independent eco-label programs.

Greenpeace is on the roof! In 2006, Greenpeace took its protests directly to supermarkets, hanging banners from rooftops and other large-scale awareness-raising performances, including a protest at the Brussels seafood show. This led to sustainability rankings of retailers some years later.

Walmart climbs aboard MSC train

In 2006, the world’s largest retailer, Walmart, pledged to sell fresh and frozen, wild-caught seafood from fisheries certified sustainable by the MSC.

NFI comes full circle

Despite its early opposition to the MSC and the sustainable seafood movement, in 2008 National Fisheries Institute (NFI) President John Connelly joined the MSC board.

Fishery Improvement Projects (FIP)

The Sustainable Fisheries Partnership in 2008 launched the Russian Pollock Fisheries Improvement Partnership, which was a model for the evolution of Fishery Improvement Projects, which are prevalent today.

Oh no! Stinky Fish In 2008, arguably the most ill-conceived consumer marketing campaign – Stinky Fish – was launched by WWF/MSC. It produced a bitter response from the industry and highlighted the dissention between NGOs and seafood companies a decade into the sustainable seafood movement.

ASC arrives WWF’s Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) took flight in 2009. Today it is battling it out with BAP for the certification of global aquaculture operations.

Rise of the CSO and CSR

In 2011, Phillips Foods created the new position of VP of sustainability. It was one of the first seafood companies to do so. Today, the position Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) is a standard part of business, as is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies.

America’s first Chief Sustainability Officer was appointed in 2004 at DuPont

Alaska and MSC divorce

In 2012, The major Alaska seafood providers announced they would pull out of the MSC salmon certification program, opting for a home-grown program run by ASMI. Ultimately, they rejoined MSC, but their move was part of a new wave of eco-label schemes.

Benchmarking In 2013, the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) was established to create a benchmarking tool to recognize sustainable certifications programs that meet international standards.

Full Disclosure… Transparency and traceability advances seem the most likely next steps in the sustainability movement. The coming years very well could bring a whole new level of disclosure and transparency of the supply chain. Example: Ocean Disclosure Project – Publix, Morrisons, The Co-operative, Asda