Food has Never been Higher on the Sustainable Business Agenda. Nov '24

Food has never been higher on the sustainable business agenda.

And it’s not hard to see why. Our food systems are failing, badly – hitting the resilience of the societies and business that relies on it.

Food is one of the primary drivers of the climate and nature crises, responsible for a third of global GHG emissions, 70% of freshwater use and 80% of biodiversity loss. At the same time, millions go hungry, while 30% of food is wasted. 4.5 billion people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, 90% of employment in agriculture is informal, and it’s where most child labour occurs.

A lot of attention is focussed today on transforming production processes for major land-based commodities like beef and soy. This is essential - but we can’t overlook the foundation of more than 3 billion diets: seafood. 

The Thai shrimp supply chain offers a litmus test for what’s possible, while also underlining what’s at stake. 

Ten years ago, allegations of severe human rights abuses including slavery and forced labour were uncovered in the Thai shrimp supply chain, rocking the industry to its core. This week, I’m in Bangkok with representatives from across the entire supply chain – farmers, packers, vessel owners and retailers – for our annual gathering of the Seafood Task Force, reflecting on a decade of change in the country.

The Seafood Task Force is the only global trade association where the world’s largest retailers, seafood brands and their seafood partners are working together to drive supply chain oversight and continuous improvement from vessel to plate. It was founded in the wake of revelations in 2014 with a simple idea – that industry could only have confidence to trade with effective oversight across the entire supply chain.

We’ve learnt a lot in driving this progress over the last 10 years, while also being frank about where there is still much further to go. 

Looking back, five lessons stand out. They show what other regions and supply chains can do to improve their practices:

1. Retailer commitment is key: The reality is, suppliers – many of whom are small holder farmers - can’t change their practices unless the demand is there. Many retailers have realised the long-term value of secure, stable supply chains, and are prepared to invest to get them. That is essential.
2. Building a common set of tools and resources unlocks significant value: it’s not easy getting fierce competitors to collaborate – even when that collaboration lowers costs and enhances competition –  but it is transformative. By bringing new solutions to over 75% of the entire Thai shrimp supply chain, we were able to engage on practices and supply chain behaviour across almost all Thai shrimp actors, making much more profound changes than would have been possible in siloes. 
3. There’s no substitute for action on the ground: Too many initiatives fail because they’re designed and run from boardrooms in the US and Europe, with little connection to their suppliers, or understanding of the dynamics in those countries. Making policies at a high level without understanding the practicalities of how they can be realistically implemented on the ground across the entirety of the supply chain is a recipe for failure.We have focussed on building strong networks on the ground to actively tackle underlying issues that impact the working, social and environmental conditions in the seafood sector not easily touched by traditional certification processes. 
4. Governments can choose and champion leadership: When the EU imposed a ‘yellow card’ on Thai fisheries, the Royal Thai Government chose to pursue radical reforms. With that EU warning lifted in 2019, these reforms have helped Thailand to become one of the world’s leading exporters of quality seafood products, generating approximately USD $60 billion in annual sales and turbocharging competition in service of consumers. As the food system transformation gathers pace, governments have the choice to lead, and with that to protect and grow critical industries.
5. Social and environmental progress succeed or fail together: From the outset we realised that environmental degradation drives human rights abuses. With overfishing and pollution comes smaller fish stocks, tighter margins, leading to ever worse working conditions – a vicious circle. 

Although I’m proud of the progress we’ve made, it’s clear there is still much further to go. Just in the last 12 months, further allegations of significant human rights abuses have been uncovered in the Indian, Indonesian and Vietnamese Shrimp industries, with worrying echoes of the stories in Thailand ten years ago. 

We need to take learnings from our work in Thailand and apply them to help accelerate our work across Asia.

The question is: How can we lock in the progress that’s been made, while expanding oversight and continuous improvement to more regions, commodities and supply chains?

Retailers need to hold themselves accountable and collaborate with their supply chain partners, across their supply chains, to ensure human rights are upheld, and the environment is protected. Not because of a sense of moral responsibility – though that matters.

It’s because human rights compliant and environmentally sustainable supply chains are more resilient, more reliable, and ready to stand up to public scrutiny and tightening regulation.

That’s what many of the global retailers we work with tell us time and time again – it gives them the confidence to trade.

Martin Thurley - Executive Director