Corporate sustainability news you may have missed: Part 5

Adding colour to the wherefrom monthly newsletter, here are the bad and good corporate sustainability stories this past month.

DISAPPOINTING

Turns out we are unknowingly and indirectly eating wild fish stocks when we buy farmed fish — and supermarkets are turning a blind eye to this problem. More than 90% of the world’s fish stocks are deemed to be overfished or fished to their limit. As such, many of us have been buying farmed seafood (aquaculture) because stocks are monitored and we can avoid exacerbating the complex social and environmental problems of the wild fishing industry. However, an investigation by Feedback and Changing Markets Foundation has uncovered that the feed for these farmed fish, called fishmeal and fish oil (FMFO), is actually comprised of wild fish.

The study claims these wild fish FMFOs are coming from “potentially overfished regions, or are even linked to illegal or environmentally destructive fishing practices.” The study also outlines that per 100g of farmed seafood that we buy, 172g of wild fish was used as feed. That means that we are eating 2.5x more fish — fish that we don’t even know how or where it was caught.

In light of all of this, the study calls for supermarkets to radically improve their supply chain monitoring and to implement targets to phase out using unsustainable wild fish as aqua-feed. Furthermore, full transparency is also necessary for consumers who have been unknowingly eating wild fish and indirectly contributing to illegal and unsustainable fishing practices in India, Vietnam, and The Gambia (as the study indicates).

You can use wherefrom to voice your opinion on the sustainability of the farmed fish you consume.

A study by investor-led Transitions Pathway Initiative investigated 238 energy, industrial and transport companies on their projected carbon performance. They found that 4 out of 5 firms in these carbon-intensive sectors are failing the Paris Agreement test. Are you surprised? Me neither.

Here’s what they found.

1. Only 43 firms (18 %) have emission strategies in line with limiting global warming to 2℃ — the lowest ambition Paris Agreement Target
2. Only 13% are aiming for below 2℃ of warming
3. Oil and gas and airlines were obviously the worst carbon performers, but steel and cement sectors also urgently need improved decarbonisation efforts
4. 95% of firms had a broad policy commitment to act on climate change, although decarbonisation rates were not nearly fast enough to reach the Paris Agreement goals.

The report recommended that investors urge companies to create more advanced carbon management practices — these include tying climate change performance to executive pay and integrating climate risks and opportunities into general business strategies.

Aquaculture off the coast of Greece.
Photo: Artur Rydzewski

FEELING HOPEFUL

ASOS reduced its operational CO2 emissions per order by 30% since 2015. The e-commerce retailer managed this “staggering” reduction by being more energy-efficient, having lighter packaging and switching to renewable power sources. However, it is important to note that even if it managed to do this per order, the retailer has gained an additional 7.9 million active customers in the same timeframe. This means that although ASOS has reduced its per order emissions, its overall emissions nevertheless increased due to the overall increase in orders.

H&M is on a sustainability roll! The fashion brand recently appointed former sustainability chief Helena Helmersson as CEO — H&M’s first female CEO 😏. One of the brand’s first major moves since appointing Helmersson is a new initiative called Treadler. For a price, it will give other companies access to H&M’s global suppliers and help with product development, sourcing, production, and logistics. The fact that H&M is opening up its supply chain to other brands is a really great move, as collaboration is vital for helping the industry become more sustainable. This initiative is also particularly important considering the fashion industry is riddled with environmental and social sustainability problems. According to the UN, it could be responsible for as much as a tenth of the world’s carbon emissions. Keep it up H&M!

Iceland is also killin’ it right now! In the last two years, the retailer has managed to use 29% less plastic in its own-label product packaging. This is part of Iceland’s commitment to remove all own-label plastics by 2023. Examples of how it has done this include: 74 frozen ready-meals going from hard-to-recycle black plastic trays to cardboard and some fruits and vegetables now being available loose rather than in plastic bags.

Since announcing its zero plastics ambition, Iceland has engaged around 100 suppliers with working groups and frameworks on how to remove plastics across the whole chain. It also provided staff across the supply chain with training to reduce the chances of plastic removals unintentionally causing food waste.

Iceland’s cardboard packaging alternatives to plastic.
Photo: Viridor