Interaction with water as a shared resource

Management and responsibility for freshwater withdrawals, waste water treatment and discharge are located locally in each company in the Group. The overall responsibility to form policies, establish KPI`s and strategies for our withdrawals, treatment and discharge of water lies with the Group management. In addition the Group have a responsibility to consolidate, and control reported water related data from all companies.

All Water withdrawal per source, and discharge per treatment type and destination are reported monthly through Cemasys (Cemasys.com). LSG have developed Apps in PowerBI to monitor, control and analyse all environmental data reported through Cemasys. Based on these tools our companies are better equipped to control their environmental accounting, see trends and implement preventive actions to mitigate negative impacts, and potensially increase possible postive impacts. In addition we can monitor if our actions have the desired effect. Actual and potential impacts, both positive and negative from our operations have been identified through Risk evaluations.

We have identified that our operations do not have any significant impact on water bodies which we have permits for water withdrawal and discharge water quality. There are some potential negative impacts of our operations. If we withdraw significantly more water over time than we are allowed to, it can in worst case cause irreprable damage to local flora and fauna in the area.  This will in turn impact our operations, potensially leading to reduced capasity, employment and downstream activities. Our most water intensive operation do not withdraw water from drinking water sources.

LSG report in accordance with guidelines from several third party benchmarking organizations and stakeholders (Coller FAIIR, CDP and GRI). In 2022 LSG extended the risk assessment regarding water withdrawal, water discharge and consumption of freshwater for all locations in the group, using WRI Aquaduct (https://www.wri.org/aqueduct) as a tool to identify which of our operations are located in areas with medium to high risk of Water Stress and Water Depletion.

Locations identified as being at risk for Water Stress and/or Water Depletion (See table 4 below) are in a continuous process of monitoring their local impacts, form action plans and frameworks where needed. Where policies are established on a national level, companies in the group have been informed and are in dialogue with official representatives. This is an ongoing process which have generated actions to reduce water withdrawal and improve water treatment of discharged water (See table 5 below).

Each location is tracking their progress using our PowerBI solution. 2022 is the first year we have a complete dataset for all locations regarding Water withdrawal, water discharge and consumtion of water. Going forward we can Track effectivenes of actions taken on a monthly basis and form Targets based on 2022 as baseyear.

Since our operations in large does not consume water, we have shifted our target for 2023 to only include locations in medium to high risk of water stress. Our new target is to reduce our water withdrawal in areas with medium to High risk of water stress with 5 % within 2025, with baseyear 2022. Locations included in this target can be found in table 4.

LSG are committed to ensure that all our employees have their basic needs regarding fresh water available in all our operations. This includes their right to access to clean quality fresh drinking water, sanitation facilities and clean working clothes. There have been no whistleblowing cases related this topic in 2022.

The Group have not registered any violations of regulations related to use of -and discharge of water in 2022.

Fresh water related data have been audited by third party.

Lerøy do not have any feed farming operations.

More information can be found in our LSG Water withdrawal and waste water discharge Policy.

CapEx and OpEx

CapEx in 2022 includes investments in RAS technology, water saving equipment, waste water purifying facilities and technology and Water efficiency equipment. OpEx in 2022 include cost related to water permits, water use cost, Waste water treatment cost and labour cost. Lerøy aquired several new companies and facilities in 2022 which explains the increased OpEx. The drop in CapEx is related to no new investments in RAS facilities i 2022.

Table 1: Water related CapEx and OpEx:

Water withdrawl

The worlds dependency on clean freshwater have never been greater. With an increasing global population, increased temperatures due to increased Co2 emissions and increased pollution, it has become even more important to govern our water sources in a sustainable manner.

LSG take this responsibility seriously and strive to protect and safeguard the freshwater sources we draw water from. We have devised strict protocols and procedures to make sure that we do not draw on more water than we are allowed to.

We are also in dialogue with local stakeholders and communities thorough local meetings organized by Lerøy. We need, through our ASC certification, to have meetings with local stakeholders and communities to discuss concerns and questions they have. To this date water withdrawal, water discharge and consummation of water have not been a topic at any of these meetings. We have neither had any enquiries or questions asked regarding our water management from Stakeholders.

We also continue our effort to switch all flow through systems for Salmon farming over to RAS and invest in water saving equipment in our downstream operations (See table 1). 

Table 2: Overview water withdrawal, discharged water and Water withdrawal per kg produced LSG 2021 and 2022 with % change

*Incomplete dataset for 2021

**excluding farming operations (Farming, Smolt production, cleanerfish production and parentfish production)

Our water withdrawals have increased with 13,7 % in 2022 compared to 2021. Our smolt production operations contribute to a significant part of all the increase. We also see a decrease in some processing facilities, while an increase in the total volume water withdrawn for our VAP Sales and Distribution segment. Below is listed main reasons for the increase, and decrease in water withdrawal:

• Increased production volume in our smolt production operations at Bjørsvik (16 427 490 m3 2021 and 19 464 725 m3 in 2022)
• Flatråker produced fish of larger size in 2022 compared to 2021 (9 932 731 m3 in 2021 and 12 016 080 m3 in 2022). This demands higher throughput of freshwater.
• Water saving initiatives and investment in water saving equipment have resulted in a decrease in water withdrawal in our processing plants.
  1. Lerøy Aurora processing plant have reduced their water withdrawal (473 340 m3 in 2021 m3 to 428 050 m3 in 2022)
  2. Lerøy Turkey Processing have reduced their water withdrawal (15 649 m3 in 2021 to 14 394 m3 in 2022)
  3. Lerøy Seafood Holding BV in the Netherlands reduced their water withdrwal ( 130 976 m3 in 2021 to 110 193 m3 in 2022)
• Newly acquired companies and factories late 2021 and in 2022.
  1. Lerøy Seafood Italy Srl Opened in late 2021 (3 029 m3 water withdrawal in 2021 and 8 898 m3 in 2022)
  2. Acquired Lerøy Seafood Denmark late 2021 (68 386 m3 water withdrawal in 2021 and 178 923 m3 during 2022)
  3. New factory built in Kungelv Sweden in May 2022 (5 985 m3 during May – December).

Table 3: Water withdrawal per source in m3 (2022)

The farming segment used 0,36 m3 fresh water per kg fish produced, while our slaughterhouses used 0,0093 m3 freshwater per kg fish produced, and our VAP segment used 0,0058 m3 in 2022.  Wildcatch segment used 0,0052 m3 per kg fish produced. This signifies a reduction for all segments compared to 2021.

Water related impacts and risks

In our operations, and mainly the Smolt operations, there have been identified risks which may have a negative impact on our operations. Long term drought has the highest consequences for our operations and may cause severe impacts on both fish welfare and economics. Long term drought which will deplete our water reserves in magazines is however deemed unlikely since access to clean high quality freshwater in Norway is good. Lerøy only produce protein in Norway where water sources is low risk of water stress. 0 % of revenue is therefore dependent on protein from water- stressed areas. In addition we have long term permits and agreements for water withdrawal from Water sources which mitigates some of the Risk of water shortages.

In addition, all processing factories located in areas with medium to risk of Water stress (See table 4), there can be risk associated with access to clean freshwater. To date no such problems have been reported, but we are planning for the eventuality that it may become an issue.

Our Downstream units are mainly located in industrial zones. These zones have both heavy and low water intensive industry. Our operations and withdrawal of water in these zones are considered as low compared to the other industries. Our business could however be influenced if water shortages and or regulatory changes divert water permissions to high intensive industries in periods of shortages. This has not occurred, and we se it as unlikely to influence our operations.

Water saving technology

The RAS (Recirculating Aquaculture Systems) technology allows Lerøy Seafood Group to produce fish with up to 99% reduction in water use compared to conventional flow-through systems. The Group started to use RAS-technology already in 2005.

In 2022, approximately 80% of all salmon smolt in Lerøy Seafood Group was reared with this technology. RAS technology also entails that we recycle and cleans the water before discharge. In 2022 the total volume of freshwater which was recycled and reused in RAS systems was approximately 76 537 628 m3. That is 78 % of the total withdrawn water in the group.

Tabell 5: List of water saving and quality initiatives in companies with locations in medium to High risk of water stress (WRI Aquaduct)

Units which are not in water stress areas have also implemented water reducing initatives and water quality improvements  during 2022. This will, in addtion to improve our impact one the environment, also improve food safety and finances.

Water discharge - Effluents

We continue our work with water treatment and discharge data. During 2022 we have established new procedures and guidelines for reporting of water discharge data. We have included in the reporting the subtracting of Ice -and Brine production from the total waste water discharge figures. This way we are able to calculate our consumed water. From 2023 we will also include water evaporation from Rice cooking in our Sushi production.

Our Target is that all facilities in Lerøy comply with National regulations and discharge limits in the country of operations. Discharge of waste water directly to freshwater environments we follow as a minimum the World Banks standard for waste limits where applicable to the specific geography. This included limits for Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Total Nitrogen (TN) and Total Phosphorus (TP). Lerøy had no discharge of wastewater to freshwater environments in 2022.

All of our processing factories, new and old, are equipped with fat separators and UV light treatment. In some factories, where it’s necessary, we also have chemical treatment (Chlorine) of waste water in addition to mechanical treatment before discharge.

See table 4 for discharge volumes per segment, and factories in areas with medium to high water stress risks.

Management of Water discharge related impacts

The group had no water related incidents or accidents related to water withdrawal and water discharge (volume and quality) in 2022.

Discharge water is analysed and tested in accordance with local regulations/requirements or permits (See tables 6-9), and deviations is handled in our quality management system. For our operations in Norway we report all water data (volume withdrawn, discharge and quality) to local government.

Depending on location and local requirements parameters analysed can be TOC (Total Organic Carbon), N_tot (Total Nitrogen, NT) and P_tot (total phosphor, TP) for Juvenile fish production, or Biological oxygen demand (BOD), Chemical oxygen demand (COD) fats and solids for factories. The limit, or degree purified water for these can wary depending on permit, regulations and area of operations. The permits also describes which type of analyse must be done within each Limit (Phosphorus in ml/l, Nitrogen in ml/l, fat in mg/l, COD and BOD and Total Settled solids (TSS) in ml/l).

All our processing facilities discharged wastewater to third party treatment plants which purify the water in accordance with local regulatory limits before released to water source. Lerøy have no discharge of wastewater directly to freshwater sources.

Using the WRI Aqueduct tool (Physical risk Quality) we performed in 2022 a risk assessment identifying 4 facilities operating in areas with low-medium and medium to high risk. Three are located in low to medium risk (Lerøy Italy Srl, Lerøy Smøgen Seafood AB and Lerøy Kungelv AB (Sweden)) and one in a medium to high risk area (Lerøy Turkey). We have invested in a new waste water treatment facility in Lerøy Turkey, see table 5. Lerøy Kungelv AB is a new facility opening in May 2022 and is equipped with new wastewater treatment systems. Lerøy Smøgen Seafood AB sends all its wastewater to a Biogas production facility.

Below are tables showing examples of regulatory limits for operations in areas with low and medium to high risk of water stress.

Table 6: Discharge limits for a Juvenil fish production location in LSG 2022. Low risk of water stress.

Table 7: Discharge limits for Lerøy Turkey (VAPS&D segment). High risk of water stress

Table 8: Discharge limits for Lerøy France – Fishcut factory (VAPS&D segment) High risk of water stress

Table 9: Discharge limits for Brandasund (Industry - Slaughterhouse), Low risk of water stress.

Table 10: Discharge limits for Lerøy Portugal  (VAPS&D segment) medium to high risk of water stress

In Holland there are no regulations for discharge water for our operations, they are only required to analyse their waste water before release to municipal water treatment plant once pr year. They also analyse weekly for COD.

In our farming segment our most water intensive operations are the juvenile fish production, and discharged wastewater from these operations are managed through approvals from local governments. Sludge collected from waste water on-site are either composted to soil improvement (Fertilizer) or Biogas.

New technology and proximity to a biogas facility in Sweden have made it possible for one of our factories to send wastewater for treatment there, and at the same time recover biogas from the wastewater discharge. This has resulted in eliminating treatment on site which is beneficial for all parties.

Using RAS technology allows us to discharge the recycled water directly back to the source or directly to the sea according to our permits. These permits for release of discharge water have different parameters which needs to be fulfilled based on location (See table 6-10 above).

Lerøy stive to material recover 100 % of our by-products from our operations. In 2022 we material recovered 98 % of our organic by-products. By products are either used for human consumption, sold as Animal feed ingredients, converted to fertilizer or sent to biogas production (effluents).

In partnership with a feed supplier Lerøy has invested in regenerative agriculture. 30% of wheat and corn crops are sourced from regenerative farms. We aim to continue and grow our investment to ensure that our suppliers of vegetable ingredients can diversify or rotate crops, move away from monoculture and develop cover crops. Lerøy has also invested in alternative feed sources such as macro Algae and insect protein.

Lerøy has a broad collaboration with various third-party companies also regarding water use and nutrient management in our operations. As an example we can mention our joint venture with the environmental protection organisation Bellona. Bellona and Lerøy has a joint venture, Ocean Forest, were we collaborate on producing blue mussels and algae’s, useing nitrogen, phosphorus and nutrient salts from our production of salmon. More information on Ocean Forest.

Bellona also function as a third party advisory related to sustainable water quality and nutrient management in our supply chain. 

All Water related non-conformites are reported, handled and stored in our Quality Management system. This system enables us to keep track of trends and implement correct corrective and preventive actions. Lerøy had no major incidents regarding wastewater spills or unwanted/unplanned discharge in 2022.

Water Consumption

In Accordance with CDP reporting framework we started to measure consumption of fresh water in January 1st 2022. Please see table 4 above for consumption data for the entire Group. The consumption of freshwater is calculated based on water withdrawal and water Discharge (Water withdrawal – Water discharge = Water consumption). The total consumed water in medium to high risk of water stress areas were 3 Megalitre (ML) in 2022. Our target for consumption of water in medium to high areas in risk of water stress, is to maintain a stable water consumption in our operations. The reasoning behind the decision is that we are dependent on water for Ice production to cool our products to maintain food safety and quality, and to produce Brine for our smoked products

Regarding the groups withdrawal of seawater for our processing operations, all withdrawn seawater is discharged directly back to the sea or municipal treatment centre.

The consumption of fresh water are related to ice production and Brine injection in our Industry and VAPS&D segment. From 2023 the consumption of water related to Rice cooking (sushi production) will also be included in the reporting. Not all factories have these activities so the consumption is zero for these units.

Lerøy do not use any water storage (facilities or reservoirs).

Water management Suppliers

An important part of Lerøys strategy is ensure that our suppliers operate and perform sustainably, also regarding water use, pollutants and consumation of water. Through dialogue, support and partnerships we will ensure that all of our value chain operate in accordance with sustainable principles. Lerøy have among other a collaboration with feed suppliers on water risk Management. It is important to determine the full risk profile and understand the actions needed to minimize risks linked with water use related to agriculture raw materials.  We are in the process of finalizing a risk assessment survey to fully understand the suppliers risk profile and which actions have to been taken on water related infrastructure, sustainable water withdrawal, sustainable water supply, buffer zones and the protection of water bodies from pollution. This also includes the use of pesticides in Agriculture. This requirement has resulted in a water conservation and efficiency plan for each supplier. More information can be found in our Supplier Code of Conduct and Code of conduct .

Water withdrawal and intensity Feed

We are working with our suppliers to increase data quality for water withdrawal, water discharge and consumption of water in the feed supply chain. Data regarding total water use in m3 for 2022 are Calculated using LCA Coefficients : Water use.

Water scarcity in feed supply chain

Based on available data, our feed suppliers have done a risk assessment (WRI Aquaduct) of water scarcity to determine which main vegetable raw materials in fish feed are sourced from areas with water stress. The WRI Aquaduct tool have restrictions when analysing based on Raw material. The analysis is therefore based on average score on country level, presented as Europe.

Example, Rapeseed is sourced from Belgium (WRI Score 48), France (WRI score 31), Netherlands (WRI score 29) and Russia (WRI Score 15). The average is between 20-40 % score and presented as having a medium to high risk of water stress.

We are, together with our feed suppliers, in dialogue to better understand the methology and data quality needs to be able to disclose a complete and accurate data set. We are in the process, but it will take time still because of the availability and on current methology.

For more information please see our Fish feed Policy