An email from down under inspires company-wide progress on sustainability
A dilemma facing our Skretting Australia team and an email seeking solutions recently played a role in prompting a Nutreco-wide decision that will have a significant impact on helping us reduce our carbon footprint. Find out how a simple question can have an amazing ripple effect when people have the courage to care.
The team from Skretting Australia was developing a CapEx proposal to replace their gas boilers. They were faced with a dilemma: replace the boilers with another gas system that has a shorter payback time or a new electric boiler with a longer payback time but a much smaller carbon footprint. “After much debate at the local level, it seemed inevitable that we would need to choose the gas boiler,” said Communications and Sustainability Specialist Ryan Stallard. “The business case for an electric boiler just didn't fit the CAPEX approval process at the time.”
But the team just couldn’t give up without one more try, so right before the decision deadline, they reached out to Sustainability Director Robert van den Breemer, looking for a novel solution that might prove to be a win-win even beyond their own team. Robert articulated the dilemma this way: “Clearly the electric was more expensive and longer payback, yet from a sustainability perspective, and knowing we at some point need to move to zero emissions, investing in equipment that lasts 20-30 years needs to be done with sustainability in mind.” He had heard similar stories from other OpCos across Nutreco.
Little did the Australian team know that Robert would take their dilemma, escalate it to the supply chain leadership team and Chief Supply Chain Officer Claudio Cervellati, who took it to the Management Board and BU Salmon Managing Director Dag Engelsvoll, who was instrumental in coming to a solution – and it would lead to an incredible outcome.
We were surprised and thrilled to hear that Nutreco’s Management Board had decided that from now on, when it is available and feasible, choosing the electric option is mandatory for all small CapEx equipment replacement or installation projects under $2.5 million! said Ryan.
This decision gave us the go ahead to put the electric boiler in place in Australia, which accounts for around 30% of the scope 1 and 2 CO2-equivalent emissions reduction we have identified so far, but it will also have a much wider impact across the company.
The story is a great example of a small OpCo having the courage to care and making an outsized impact as a result. In Robert’s words to the Skretting team, “By bringing up this case, you have made it clear that, across Nutreco, we need to take steps to a more sustainable production. THANK YOU!”
The Skretting Australia team took accountability for their local emissions and helped to drive a change that will make it far easier for other OpCos to follow in their footsteps. And from a Nutreco perspective, it shows that we are not just "talking the talk" but really putting sustainability at the heart of our business.