Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Seafood

As with other industry sectors, the seafood industry is responding to heightened awareness and concern over climate impact. In recent times, concern expressed in the media and in some NGO campaigns has focussed on issues such as food miles and wider Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions impacts. More recently, severe economic conditions and uncertainties in the energy sector have highlighted the need for greater efficiency in seafood supply chains.

In response to these issues, Seafish has worked with industry and other partners for a number of years to:

• gain a better understanding of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in seafood, and
• identify hotspots in key seafood systems

in order to inform future industry action.

Current activities

Industry group on GHG emissions in seafood

We currently facilitate an industry group, that meets twice per year to advance our work in GHG emissions.  This group comprises some ten organisations from the processing, retail, and NGO sectors and reports to a wider network of over 20 organisations with an interest in the issue.

• GHG emissions meeting note 1 081010
• GHG emissions meeting note 2 070411
• GHG emissions meeting note 3 090911
• GHG emissions meeting note 4 270312

Collective action on GHG emissions in seafood

Over a number of years we have collaborated with international partners on GHG emissions in seafood to resolve GHG emissions issues.  This has led to an outline framework for collective action as a means of addressing and potentially resolving some of these issues.  This framework for action aims to work towards common positions on GHG emissions methodologies, common standards where possible, shared understanding of seafood production systems, and platforms for sharing emissions related data.

Collective action framework

Understanding seafood systems

Briefing note: CO2 emissions - Case studies in selected seafood product chains

Review of life cycle assessment research on products derived from fisheries and aquaculture

Understanding hotspots in your seafood chain

GHG emission profiling tool for seafood products from capture fisheries

Common standards

Common standards for assessing greenhouse gas emissions in seafood include

PAS 2050-2 - Assessment of life cycle greenhouse gas emissions in aquatic food products

Further information

Please contact Angus Garrett,