On 18 July, Thai Union unveiled a multi-pronged plan backed by a THB 6.9 billion (USD 200 million, EUR 178 million) investment aiming to ensure 100 percent of the company’s seafood comes from responsible sources by 2030.
SeaChange 2030 represents the company’s most extensive sustainability initiative to date, spanning 11 overarching objectives. It has the support of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, IDH – the Sustainable Trade Initiative, and The Nature Conservancy.
“The investment is equal to Thai Union’s net profits in 2022, demonstrating the magnitude of the commitment,” Thai Union Chief Financial Officer Ludovic Garnier told SeafoodSource.
In 2016, Thai Union introduced its SeaChange global sustainability strategy, which contained measurable commitments to foster transformations across its operations and its supply chain. SeaChange 2030 is set to expand Thai Union’s tuna sustainability efforts to other wild species it sources, such as mackerel, herring, salmon, blue swimming crab, and lobster. To do this, the company wants to ensure that all of its wild-caught seafood comes from currently responsible sources or, at the very least, from fisheries in an improvement program with plans of implementing responsible fishing and labor practices by 2030.
Thai Union has been working toward implementing sustainable fisheries management practices, including combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and achieving Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification, within its tuna supply chain for a number of years, according to Thai Union Chief Sustainability Officer Adam Brennan.
Now, 88 percent of the company’s tuna comes from responsible sources, he said, with a goal of 100 percent by 2025.
Brennan said after Thai Union concentrated on its tuna sustainability efforts, it sought to expand its scope and analyze its environmental and social impacts across the its entire seafood portfolio. That effort formed the basis for SeaChange 2030.
“This new strategy builds on that,” Brennan said. “We are very humble with the progress we have achieved so far. We recognize that although we are widely deemed as leaders in this space, leadership is not a stagnant term. What 2030 looks like is not what today looks like.”
To accomplish this objective, the company announced earlier this year that, by 2030, all of its suppliers must implement best practices for securing endangered, threatened, and protected (ETP) species from becoming bycatch, and it reaffirmed its commitment to achieving 100 percent observer coverage – both human and electronic – on tuna vessels by 2025 through direct work with suppliers and service providers.
In addition to extensive auditing of its sourcing vessels, SeaChange 2030 includes a new “worker voice and grievance” mechanism, starting with a project in Thailand. The company will send Thai-speaking staff to its vessels in Thai ports who will communicate directly with fishermen to better ensure their needs and worker rights are being addressed.
Through its SeaChange 2030 initiative, Thai Union hopes to create “a safe, decent, diverse, and inclusive workplace for all employees,” Garnier SeafoodSource. It has committed to diversifying its management positions so that at least 50 percent are held by women.
Additionally, through the new initiative, all of the company’s farmed seafood, including shrimp, must be sourced from farms in aquaculture improvement programs (AIPs) that employ responsible labor practices. According to Brennan, Thai Union is the largest importer of frozen shrimp to the U.S.
“This will be the first time [that] Thai Union has had a group-level aquaculture commitment,” Brennan said.
Thai Union will be moving its farms toward securing certification, but it will not mandate specific credentials, such as Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP), according to Brennan. Instead, it will leave that up to the individual farms to decide.
Another goal is for the company to solidify its place in the plant-based seafood analog product market, Garnier said. He acknowledged Thai Union is late in joining the seafood analog movement, but said the company hopes to increase its market presence in the sector.
The plan also calls for Thai Union to contribute THB 242 million (USD 7 million, EUR 6.2 million) toward the protection and restoration of critical ecosystems. This initiative also encompasses an effort to ensure its soy and palm oil sourcing doesn’t result from deforestation and that 100 percent of its chicken comes from traceable, sustainable sources.
As another component of the SeaChange 2030 plan, by 2030, all feed producers supplying Thai Union must be Marin Trust-certified or must be sourcing from fisheries enrolled in improvement programs, according to Brennan. This includes its own own feed mill in Thailand.
“Increasing the level of traceability will be one of the first topics we address with feed,” Brennan said.
Thai Union is also committing to a 42 percent reduction to Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and becoming net-zero – without carbon offsets – by 2050. This ambitious goal also entails implementing zero discharge, zero waste to landfill, and zero food loss efforts at five key facilities.
And Thai Union has committed to using only sustainable packaging for its branded products by 2025, and Thai Union will advocate for at least 60 percent of private-label products to do the same by 2030.
Photo courtesy of Thai Union
