This has certainly been the case at Skretting, and I will forever be proud of the fact that despite all the traumas faced, every single one of our factories has remained open throughout the crisis – producing essential aquaculture feeds and solutions that have met the new demands of dramatically changed markets. These efforts enabled to contribute to the delivery of more than 21 million seafood meals every day last year.

Not only does this resilience typify the commitment of our people and teams, it also serves to demonstrate the value of having our own house in order and the importance of the safety culture embedded in our business. At the same time, we have continued to progress on diversity and inclusion, greenhouse gas emissions reduction and anti-microbial resistance, and there are plenty more initiatives in the pipeline.

Skretting has also been able to advance many of its stakeholder partnerships this past year. We are and will always be an ambitious company; it’s our intention to be a driving force in the global aquaculture space, enabling it to reach its full potential as a source of food security. But this is not something that we or anyone else can do alone. Collaboration is essential; as an industry, we are far stronger together than we are alone, and we have a shared responsibility to act.

As 2020 came to close, we were able to finalise the Nutreco Sustainability RoadMap 2025, which amongst other things defines our sustainability ambitions for the years ahead. Built upon our three pillars of sustainability, namely Health & Welfare, Climate & Circularity, and Good Citizenship, details of this new strategy can be found here, and you will also see several references to it throughout this report as it sets specific targets for our progress and engagement. However, I would like to highlight that the work that went into the development of the RoadMap has reinforced sustainability’s position at the heart of our daily business operations. Moving forward, we will endeavour to address specific concerns of all of our teams.

As this report illustrates, sustainability is very much part of the Skretting DNA, and yet we’re also acutely aware that there’s lots of scope for improvement, with a long way to go in many key areas. Nevertheless, I am extremely confident that the path we are now on can meet the demands of our future planet. We are better placed than ever before to help our partners around the world, and to accelerate the sustainable growth of the aquaculture industry. In doing so, we remain firmly focused on achieving our longstanding ambition of ‘Feeding the Future’.