Helping our seafood sector to thrive
By building knowledge on the carbon ‘footprint’ of products, businesses can understand how different seafood products compare and their relative ‘climate credentials’. Seafood products tend to have several ‘hotspots’ across the supply chain – activities that produce relatively more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Robust data and information are then also needed to help businesses plan and make informed investment decisions, to drive priority supply chain improvements to decarbonise their seafood products and operations.
How Seafish can help you
Welcome to the public section of the Seafood Carbon Emissions Profiling Tool. Here, we provide a range of indicative carbon footprints for seafood products typically retailed in the UK. Alongside this, you’ll find an overview of the tool, the underpinning methodology, supply chain boundaries (what is in/out of scope), and frequently asked questions.
Understanding the carbon footprint of seafood products benefits both industry and end-consumers. For industry, it helps comprehend the existing carbon credentials of their products and identify carbon hotspots (or ‘risks’) in supply chains. This information informs investment decisions and drives improvements. Additionally, conscious consumers seeking to make informed purchasing choices will find this data valuable. For more information on Seafish’s work to support the UK sector to supply environmentally and socially responsible seafood, please visit: Responsible sourcing — Seafish
The seafood industry
For validated UK seafood businesses we provide additional functionality to generate and then save product carbon footprints based on primary (operating) data. As these data are commercially sensitive they are stored securely, and you will only be able to directly access your own data and generated carbon footprints.
Interested in generating product carbon footprints? To become a user please complete the Seafood Carbon Emissions Profiling Tool Access Request Form.
Please note that this functionality will only be made available to validated UK seafood supply chain businesses.
The consumer
Curious about the impact of UK seafood products? Have a look at the carbon footprint comparison of seafood products below, and find out how your favorite products rate compared to similar products.
For guidance on how to interpret the barchart; to learn more about key factors influencing carbon footprints.
Product comparison
Seafood product | Climate change impact in kg CO2 equivalent per kg product |
|---|---|
Key factors influencing Carbon Footprints
When comparing products
The carbon footprints provided are indicative and not currently based on UK seafood industry data. However, the intention is to update these footprints when industry-averaged data becomes available as industry uses the tool. This update will make them more representative of UK operations.
For the following products containing seafood sourced from UK landed species, the average fuel consumption for the gear / fishing area associated with the highest annual UK landings has been used:
| UK Landed fish |
|---|
| Chilled/Frozen cod fillet |
| Chilled/Frozen haddock fillet |
| Chilled/Frozen battered cod fillet |
| Chilled/Frozen breaded cod fillet |
| Chilled/Frozen cod fish fingers |
| Chilled/Frozen breaded flatfish (Plaice/Lemon Sole) |
| Chilled/Frozen mackerel fillet |
Keep in mind that all shown indicative footprints are subject to change. As more accurate data becomes available, the comparisons may evolve. Therefore care should be exercise when making product comparisons.
In summary, these current footprints offer valuable insights regarding the contributors to the greenhouse gas emissions of seafood products and how these compare to each other. However, it is essential to stay informed as the data gets refined. Making informed comparisons ensures that we consider the full picture when assessing the climate impact of different seafood products.
Some examples
Let’s delve into some examples of how different types of finished seafood products compare in terms of their carbon footprints. These footprints are expressed as carbon dioxide equivalents (CO₂e) per kilogram (kg) of finished seafood product. Click on the example of your interest to read more.