Global Salmon Initiative (GSI) is a collaborative leadership effort led by the CEOs of global farmed salmon companies. GSI was founded to catalyze advancements in responsible salmon farming at speed and scale through collaboration, innovation, and transparency. The aim of GSI is to provide climate-resilient food with the highest nutritional value and the lowest environmental footprint and realizing our vision for farmed salmon that’s raised to be better for people and planet.
What does GSI mean by raised to be better?
For GSI members, “better” means measurable progress in the areas that matter most: environmental impact, resource efficiency, worker welfare, and nutrition -benchmarked against internationally recognized standards like ASC certification, all transparently reported every year.
Better for people: Farmed salmon is a good source of complete protein and provides the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA, which support heart health - helping meet the nutritional needs of a growing global population. GSI members also support worker welfare across their operations, guided by labor standards and codes of conduct.1,2
Better for the planet: Salmon farming uses less land, less freshwater, and has a lower carbon footprint than many land-based animal proteins.3 Through partnerships like our work with World Wildlife Fund (WWF), GSI members continue to improve feed efficiency and reduce their environmental footprint year over year.5 Together, GSI members recognize their responsibility to drive this progress at speed and scale - sharing data, advancing best practices, and working toward a more resilient food system for generations to come. Learn more in our Sustainability Report.
By agreeing to work pre-competitively to mitigate environmental impacts, GSI will help push the entire industry toward sustainability at a much quicker rate than would otherwise be possible.Jason Clay, Senior Vice President of Market Transformation, World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
How did GSI begin?
In 2012, a small group of CEOs from salmon farming companies across Norway, Chile, and Scotland, attended a talk about improving environmental reputation. Inspired by stories from other sectors, these CEOs decided to continue the discussions and look at ways they could advance environmental improvement in the salmon aquaculture sector by working together.
If there is one thing everyone can agree on, it is that significant change is needed across the global food system to ensure it can meet growing demand, conserve the world’s resources, and provide nutritious food, all while adapting to a changing climate.
Given the pressures and risks we face, there is growing consensus that working together is the only way we can integrate measurable change at the speed and scale needed.
They quickly realized that when one company has poor environmental performance, it can harm the practices and reputation of all. It became clear that instead of using environmental performance as a means of competition, they would secure greater sustainability progress by working together and lifting the sustainability performance of the sector as a whole. This is what we call working pre-competitively when it comes to sustainability matters.
If you're interested in our pre-competitive, collaborative change model, you can learn more by clicking the button below.
Frequently asked…
What makes GSI different?
Within GSI we use collaboration as a tool for accelerating improvements in the sustainability of the global farmed salmon sector. By uniting expertise and resources to address shared sustainability challenges, we strive to improve transparency and innovation to ensure farm-raised salmon is one of the most eco-efficient animal-based proteins available.
Learn more about our purpose.