Orkla Foods Sverige: Bringing science into seafood sourcing decisions to reduce risk

Why SBTN?

For Orkla Foods Sverige, nature is fundamentally a supply-chain issue. As a food company, much of its impact and dependency sits upstream in the agricultural and marine raw materials used in its products. Following an initial materiality screening across the wider Orkla Foods portfolio, seafood emerged as a clear area for more focused assessment through SBTN.

Seafood presents a particularly clear business challenge. Fish stocks can face pressure from overfishing and changing environmental conditions, while companies need to navigate multiple sources of sustainability information when making sourcing decisions.

SBTN offered Orkla a more structured, science-based way to understand those risks, identify what matters most and turn a broad biodiversity agenda into clearer priorities for seafood sourcing and marine raw materials.

As Cecilia Isaksson Sajland, Director of Innovation and Sustainability, explains: 

“Because biodiversity is such a diverse and huge agenda, SBTN helps us find out which things are really important for us, where we impact the most, and what we should do.”

From assessment to seafood target-setting

Orkla Foods Sverige participated in SBTN’s Ocean pilot using accelerated pathways. The process began with a high-level sector screening under Step 1a, in which Orkla Foods portfolio companies were screened for materiality across eight pressure categories. Orkla then narrowed the scope for its more detailed value-chain assessment, prioritization and subsequent target-setting to Orkla Foods Sverige, the ocean realm and its upstream value chain — where the company had identified the most significant impacts and risks.

The resulting scope covered approximately 20 seafood species across several sourcing areas per species, creating a more manageable basis for detailed analysis, target development and internal approval.

The company publicly disclosed its validated assessment and prioritization work under Steps 1 & 2. It also completed the target-setting process (Step 3) through the pilot. For the detailed assessment, Orkla combined its sourcing information with external data, including information from scientific stock assessments and MSC, to examine factors including stock status, fishing gear impacts on ecosystems and bycatch.

Marine procurement has been closely involved throughout. Orkla was able to build on existing sourcing information, while the process also highlighted the importance of seafood traceability, regularly updated sourcing records and clear documentation to support assessment and validation.

The company has also updated its marine sourcing policy with a clearer science-based approach.

Value in practice

The accelerated pathway helped make the work more manageable by focusing detailed analysis and target-setting on a defined part of the business after a broader initial screening.

For Orkla, one of the clearest benefits is a stronger evidence base for sourcing decisions.

The company brings together information on individual fish stocks, overfishing risk, certification, fishing gear and sourcing context to develop a more rounded picture of risk.

That is useful internally for procurement, but also externally. Orkla receives regular sustainability questions from customers, including both retailers and public-sector buyers such as municipalities. A more structured, science-based information base helps teams respond more quickly and professionally and explain the reasoning behind sourcing decisions.

The work is also helping Orkla move from broad biodiversity commitments toward more specific priorities and purchasing practices. 

What they learned

Orkla’s experience highlights the value of prioritization. For a food company sourcing many different raw materials, the process began broadly: Orkla screened its wider portfolio for material nature pressures before narrowing the detailed assessment and target-setting scope to Orkla Foods Sverige, the ocean realm and its upstream value chain. This helped turn a complex nature agenda into a manageable scope while retaining a materiality-based rationale for where to focus.

Procurement involvement is equally important. Sustainability teams can identify risks and priorities, but purchasing teams need to understand and apply that information in day-to-day sourcing decisions.

The process also reinforced the importance of traceability and documentation. Reliable, regularly updated sourcing information — including species, stock and sourcing-area data — is critical both for robust analysis and for supporting validation. Companies do not need perfect information to begin, but they do need a clear record of the data and assumptions underpinning their assessment.

Orkla’s current focus is increasingly on implementation — using clearer science-based priorities to shape sourcing policies, supplier engagement and future action for seafood sourcing and marine raw materials.

Learn more

• Find Orkla’s disclosure on the SBTN Target Tracker.
• Orkla’s leadership shared their perspective on the business case for science-based targets alongside other companies in the Step Up for Nature report. Read the full report here.
• Find more case studies