This article is based on a presentation by Dr David Nickell during the Aqua Partner Days 2026 at dsm-firmenich’s Village-Neuf facility, France.
Sustainability is no longer just about ambition or compliance. For the aquaculture industry, it is becoming a business-critical issue driven by retailers, regulators, financial institutions and increasingly informed consumers. All want credible data on the environmental footprint of the animal protein products they are trading, purchasing or selling.
The question is no longer “Are we doing the right thing?” but rather “Can we show it? Can we improve it? Can we own it?”
According to Dr David Nickell, who is head of Sustell® at dsm-firmenich, the answer lies in measurement. Speaking to a visiting group of Latin American and Asian feed manufacturers at dsm-firmenich’s Village-Neuf production plant in France, Nickell outlined how software platforms are helping the industry turn existing farm and feed data into verified lifecycle assessment (LCA) results.
“Sustainability equals business,” he said. “It comes down to proof – auditable numbers and business value.”
The pressures driving change
Global supply chains are under unprecedented scrutiny. Major markets want to know the provenance of seafood products – not just where they come from, but their environmental impact and what producers are doing to improve.
Nickell identified four key pressure points. First, regulation is expanding across countries, with governments demanding more rigorous environmental reporting. Second, value chain partners are increasingly focused on carbon: 30 to 50 percent of a retailer’s carbon emissions are typically associated with animal and aquaculture protein. Third, financial institutions are steering capital toward sustainability-linked finance – the fastest-growing form of financing in agriculture – but access requires compliant, auditable numbers. Fourth, consumers in many markets want to understand the footprint of the products they buy.
Crucially, Nickell noted that banks are motivated by risk assessment. Climate-related risk must be understood and quantified; otherwise, financial institutions must set aside capital for potential losses. This creates both pressure and opportunity for producers who can demonstrate robust environmental data.
From compliance to competitive advantage
Companies already collect much of the necessary farm, feed and processing data. Sustell®, an ISO-certified end-to-end software platform, converts that data into a full Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) with actionable insights covering, for example, carbon, water, land use, nitrogen and phosphorus footprints, among others.
Nickell outlined that sustainability has moved beyond compliance and that tangible business outcomes are achievable by leveraging the same data. Sustainability and profitability go hand in hand and there are multiple ways that companies across the supply chain can unlock value from their footprint data:
- Supplier value: Retaining preferred supplier status by demonstrating a clear understanding of environmental footprints and improvement pathways.
- Operational value: Using footprinting as a business diagnostic to identify best practices across farms and target investments effectively.
- Sustainable finance: Accessing sustainability-linked loans, the fastest-growing form of financing in agriculture, backed by compliant and auditable numbers.
- Consumer value: Bringing sustainability facts and figures into marketing mixes for brands where it matters to customers.
- Carbon monetisation: Turning measured carbon reductions into direct value through insetting markets, which may translate into extended contracts or additional shelf space.
“Many customers are already making improvements year on year,” Nickell noted. “Now you can measure it and turn that into value.”
Primary data reveals hidden variability
A key strength of Sustell® is that it enables customers to use primary ingredient, feed, farm and processing data rather than generic data. Nickell shared striking examples from real-world applications.
In a cohort of more than 1000 swine farms – all considered top quality and meant to be operated identically – there was a 100 percent difference in environmental footprint between the best and worst performers. Similarly, among broiler farms with identical genetics and equipment, a 75 percent difference was observed.
“Every farm is different,” Nickell emphasised. “It’s all about primary data.”
This variability matters. An organisation planning to market its products based on environmental credentials would risk accusations of greenwashing without accurate, farm-level footprinting to back up its claims. The same principle applies to aquaculture, where production systems vary significantly even within the same company or region.
Sustell® is designed to reflect real farming systems, not force producers into archetypal models. Historically, many footprinting tools required users to fit their operations into a standard template – “this is the archetypal shrimp farm” or “this is the archetypal salmon farm.” Nickell argued that this approach is inadequate because no two farms are identical. Sustell allows each farm to be modelled on its own terms, using its own data.
The power to change lies upstream
Importantly, the greatest potential for emissions reduction sits with feed producers and farmers – not downstream retailers or food service companies.
“Feed and farming are where the power lies,” Nickell explained. “Downstream companies are totally dependent on the upstream to make change happen.”
He illustrated this with a shrimp value chain example. A combination of interventions – diet reformulation, improved feed efficiency, higher survival rates and advanced nutritional concepts – delivered a 27 to 30 percent reduction in carbon footprint. This aligns closely with the 2030 reduction targets many downstream food companies have set for themselves.
“You have all the tools at hand, and now you have the measurement at hand to make that accurate, compliant and auditable,” Nickell said. “It is a tremendous opportunity for the aquaculture industry to be a leader in this field.”
The ability to build climate transition plans based on real data is becoming essential. Knowing where the hotspots are – what is going well and what is not – allows producers to target improvements where they will have the greatest impact, simultaneously improving productivity, profitability and environmental performance.
A complete environmental picture
Sustell® goes beyond carbon to cover the full environmental footprint, including water, phosphorus and nitrogen. This matters for companies raising blue or green bonds, or those specifically focused on water stewardship.
Sustell® is a collaboration with Deloitte and is built on partnerships across the ecosystem – from data companies and connectivity partners to certification bodies, as well as labelling partners, financial institutions and carbon monetisation specialists. This end-to-end approach ensures that every user along the value chain gets the insights they need.
Crucially, Sustell® respects data ownership. “Your data, your rules,” Nickell stressed. The system is designed to be easy to use, cost-effective and scalable – democratising the ability to do credible footprinting across hundreds of thousands of farms – giving users full control over their data. It hooks up to well-known recipe management systems and ingredient databases, as well as farm management systems and data platforms, and client ERP systems, enabling automated data uploads that make footprinting part of routine quality programmes rather than a separate, expensive exercise.
Catching the value of footprinting
For the aquaculture industry, the message is clear. Sustainability is measurable, manageable and profitable. The data is already being collected. The tools exist to convert that data into verified, business-relevant insights.
As Nickell concluded: “The future isn’t built on promises. It’s built on numbers. Credible. Comparable. Actionable.”
The question for feed manufacturers and aquaculture producers is no longer whether to engage with sustainability footprinting, but how quickly they can turn their existing data into value.
