Seafood Carbon Emissions Profiling Tool recognised in industry awards

The Seafood Carbon Emissions Profiling Tool (SCEPT), and the multi-partner collaboration which is seeing it play a key role in driving seafood industry decarbonisation, have been recognised in two key industry awards over the past week.

The SCEPT was named Best Carbon Initiative in the Waitrose Supplier Award and was a finalist in the North Atlantic Seafood Forum’s inaugural Sustainability Award.

The free, online tool has been developed by Seafish in collaboration with the UK Seafood Federation (UKSF) and other partners to help seafood businesses measure and reduce their carbon footprints. Since its launch in 2024 it has become the UK seafood sector’s go-to carbon measurement platform across wild capture and farmed seafood supply chains.

The awards recognise not only the quality of the SCEPT, but the strength of the collaboration involving Seafish and the UKSF, retailers, processors and supply chain partners that has encouraged its rapid uptake across the UK and North Atlantic seafood industry. As part of this collaboration, the Fishmongers’ Company worked with Seafish and UKSF to convene a series of UK-wide retail-supplier engagement events, helping to accelerate awareness, trust and alignment across the supply chain.

145 seafood businesses across seven countries have now signed-up to use the tool, including processors representing approximately 70% of the UK’s chilled and frozen seafood volume, such as Sofina Young’s Seafood, New England Seafood International, Hilton Foods Group and Labeyrie Fine Foods. Businesses that centralise their carbon reporting use data from more than 15 seafood supply chain partners in multiple countries, so the platform’s reach goes well beyond its direct users and into global supply chains.

The SCEPT has also been adopted across the supply chains of major retailers including Tesco and Waitrose which collectively represent 30% of UK high-street seafood retail sales.

Seafish’s Head of Responsible Sourcing, Stuart McLanaghan: said: “We are extremely proud that the SCEPT and the unprecedented joint working which has led to its widespread use, has been recognised in two key industry awards in the space of just a week. This recognition highlights not only the scientific and technical strength of the SCEPT, but also what industry collaboration can achieve in practice.

“By working together, Seafish, UKSF and our partners have turned data into action, creating a scalable model to accelerate decarbonisation across seafood supply chains and support a more resilient and sustainable future for the industry. We look forward to further developing the SCEPT and continuing to collaborate to increase its impact. We congratulate Veramaris, which won the NASF award, and all the other awards finalists.”

Cassie Leisk, Planet and People Group Director at New England Seafood led the UKSF team that partnered Seafish in rolling out the tool.

Cassie said: "I'm delighted for both UKSF and Seafish teams who collaborated on this ground-breaking industry initiative. The Waitrose and NASF awards recognise the partnership engagement between the wider UK seafood industry and Seafish. It's a partnership that we aim to continue in other ways of future proofing the UK processing and trading industry with our retail partners."

For more information on the SCEPT visit Assessing the carbon footprint of seafood | Seafish.

ENDS

The accompanying image shows Stuart McLanaghan, Seafish's Head of Responsible Sourcing.

For further information, please contact Jane Smernicki, Seafish Head of Communications: jane.smernicki@seafish.co.uk

NOTES TO EDITORS

About the SCEPT

The SCEPT (design, build, Beta-test and launch) is funded jointly by the Fisheries and Seafood Scheme (FaSS) in England, and Seafish. In addition, Seafish has made a commitment to continue to support the UK seafood sector to meet our collective Net Zero targets, and to fund the hosting and maintenance of the tool (including database updates and licensing), initially over five years, to ensure businesses are able to make full use of this resource.

 About Seafish
Seafish is here to give the UK seafood sector the support it needs to thrive.

We’re a non-departmental public body (NDPB) set up by the Fisheries Act 1981. Our sponsors are the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish devolved administrations.

Using our unique, non-competitive position, we work in partnership with businesses, Government and organisations to overcome challenges and seize opportunities.

Funded by a levy on the first sale of seafood in the UK, our work makes a huge difference. It keeps fishermen safe, supports sustainable sourcing, helps businesses work efficiently, and boosts the nation’s health. We tackle everything from research to campaigns, insights to training – whatever we can do to give our industry the support it needs.

Visit our website www.seafish.org or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

About UKSF

Formed from the merger of the Seafood Industry Alliance and Seafood Grimsby & Humber Alliance, UKSF brings together businesses of all sizes and ownership in a pre-competitive way to promote sustainability, innovation, and growth.

UKSF will provide strong leadership in helping to organise the industry’s energy and resources around the few agendas that will make the biggest difference. Led by industry experts, UKSF brings together the UK Seafood Processing and Trading businesses, large and small with its mission ‘to be the voice of the UK industry in making seafood a bigger part of the British diet for a healthier nation and planet’.

Visit: UK Seafood Federation.