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Good Practice
CSR Management
Global Compact International Yearbook 2013
make the feed more sustainable: The
feed consumed less in terms of marine
resources.
At the same time the diet was matched to
the needs of the salmon. With the help
of the Eco-Efficiency Analysis that was
developed by BASF and has been success-
fully applied for over 15 years to more
than 500 products and processes, BioMar
was able to determine fish diets that
were optimal for both the salmon and
for BioMar. Here BioMar regularly uses
the BASF Eco-Efficiency Manager, which
is an online tool that accesses the jointly
collected data in real time and simulates
the environmental and economic effects
of alternative feed recipes at any time.
Salmon fed with optimized fish feeds are
among the highest-quality types and are
a favored choice for salmon-branding
purposes. Jan Sverre Røsstad, Vice Presi-
dent, BioMar North Sea, emphasizes the
benefits for all involved: “This strate-
gic approach and the innovative tools
from BASF are helpful to all players in
the value chain: BioMar, fish farmers,
processors, retailers, and other stake-
holders as well. Making sustainability
tangible and applying it at the product
level with SET is very beneficial for us
and our products.” The comprehensive
sustainability strategy of BioMar has
been certified under the ProSustain™
standard of the foundation Det Norske
Veritas. The foundation has used an in-
dependent evaluation system to define
standards for continuous improvements
in product sustainability.
More sustainable beef – A tangible
vision?
A juicy, nutritious beef steak has been
an integral part of the human diet for
thousands of years. At the same time,
concern is growing about the social,
ecological, and economic impacts of
worldwide beef consumption. The US
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
(
a contractor to the Beef Checkoff) com-
missioned the SET teamwith the perfor-
mance of a comprehensive sustainability
analysis. The overall goal of the entire
project is to take the beef industry on
a journey for continuous improvement
for creating more sustainable beef. In
the first phase, scientists, consumers,
merchants, nongovernmental organiza-
tions, producers, and other stakeholders
were surveyed as to which sustainability
topics are the most relevant, from their
points of view, along the entire value
chain for beef in North America and
where improvements are necessary. For
this purpose, the respondents denomi-
nated the most urgent environmental,
social, and economic topics related to
beef production and consumption. This
“
outside-in-view” is crucial to gain ad-
ditional market understanding.
In a second step, the SET team investi-
gates exactly how sustainably the US
beef industry actually produces beef
and how various measures can impact
ecological, social, and economic factors.
The experts analyze the manufacturing
processes of the US beef industry– from
feed production to animal husbandry
all the way to beef consumption over
time. This quantitative analysis creates
a scientific basis for sound decision mak-
ing when it comes to enhancing the
sustainability of manufactured goods
and designing an end-to-end strategy
that fosters greater sustainability. The
baseline data from the analyses will be
used to analyze opportunities for im-
provement and establish a direction for
improving the sustainability attributes of
the beef industry. When the project as a
whole is completed, the beef producers
will receive a tool that will help them
continuously optimize their operations
in ecological and economic terms.
All three examples above show that there
are no standard paths on the journey to-
ward more sustainability. Each company
and industry sector has highly varied
opportunities for approaching the topic
for itself and its customers. Established
evaluation methods and independent
certification help to make the topic tan-
gible and to convincingly communicate
progress made. All those involved profit
greatly by using multistakeholder net-
works such as the UN Global Compact
to exchange information on positive
examples as well as on difficulties en-
countered, making it possible to learn
from one another while working toward
a more sustainable future.
Jan Sverre Røsstad, Vice President,
BioMar North Sea, works closely with
BASF on its sustainability strategy.