Certified companies include both salmon producers and aquaculture suppliers.
Photo: SalmonChile.
A total of 19 companies and 80 facilities in the salmon sector have been certified by Chile's Sustainability and Climate Change Agency of Corfo—Corporación de Fomento de la Producción, the economic development agency of the Chilean government—thus revealing the strong progress in sustainability and circular economy that the country's salmon industry has recorded in recent years.
The certified companies and facilities had implemented the Clean Production Agreement (APL for its Spanish acronym) 'Climate Change and Circular Economy Strategy of the Salmon Sector', executed between 2021 and 2025 and articulated by SalmonChile, with support from Chile's Undersecretariat of Fisheries (Subpesca), and the NGO Agencia de Sostenibilidad Energética (Energy Sustainability Agency).
During that four-year period, the agreement mobilized investments of USD 4.223 billion and left the sector with the first 'Circular Economy Roadmap' of a productive industry in Chile, a water footprint measured for the first time under international standards and a 288% increase in asset recovery.
"This APL has special significance because it reflects a relationship of more than two decades with the salmon sector and demonstrates that public-private collaboration allows progress with specific, measurable and verifiable results," highlighted Ximena Ruz, Executive Director of Chile's Sustainability and Climate Change Agency.
"Today we certified 80 facilities, representing nearly 60% of the national salmon production, following a process that strengthened capacities in climate change and the circular economy, and enabled progress in carbon footprint measurement, waste valorization, traceability, and community relations. Sustainability is not built in isolation: it is built through collaboration," she concluded.
Patricio Melero, President of SalmonChile—which, as the sector's organizing entity, led the process, coordinating producing and supplying companies around measurable and third-party verifiable goals in carbon emissions reduction, waste valorization, circular economy and community relations—expressed himself in the same vein as Ruz.
"This Clean Production Agreement was built together by the State, businesses, and science and innovation. None of them could have achieved this result on their own. Because the most complex challenges are not solved from a single perspective, but rather when we are able to build agreements around shared objectives," he emphasized.
Regarding the impact of the initiative, the trade association noted that the USD 4.223 billion investment mobilized allowed 100% of the certified companies, which include salmon producers and aquaculture suppliers of services and inputs, to now have sustainability policies.
The list provided by SalmonChile includes Pharmaq Chile, Zero Corp, Vitapro Chile, Cooke Aquaculture Chile, Salmones Camanchaca, Veterquímica, Salmones Austral, Multi-X, Fiordo Austral, Garware Technical Fibres Chile, Australis Mar, Marine Farm, Cultivos Yadrán, Skretting Chile, Cermaq Chile, AKVA Group Chile, Salmones Blumar, Bioled, and Ventisqueros.
The association highlighted that, in the face of increasing regulatory and social demands, all these companies adhering to the APL registered significant progress in the measured points.
Regarding climate issues, it was reported that 52% of the electricity used comes from certified renewable energy sources (I-REC); in addition, 27 professionals were accredited as Energy Managers and 11 companies made progress in energy management. Furthermore, there was an average reduction of 17% in greenhouse gas emissions associated with food production.
As for water resources, as mentioned above, the sector's water footprint was quantified for the first time under the ISO 14046 and Water Footprint Network standards, with an investment of USD 131 million. At the community level, awareness-raising activities benefited 1,952 people and mobilized resources totalling USD 190 million.
Finally, regarding the circular economy, SalmonChile noted that asset recovery increased by 288% between 2023 and 2024, reaching 270,954 tons of waste recovered in 2024, compared to 64,241 tons in 2021. With this, the recovery rate grew from 56% to 69%.
The trade association also reported that 936 people were trained in climate change and 1,141 in the circular economy. Moreover, as mentioned, the sector also developed its first 'Circular Economy Roadmap', focused on innovation, culture, regulation, and circular territories.
The Clean Production Agreement also boosted 10 circular business initiatives with an investment of USD 588 million, incorporating solutions for composting, packaging recycling, sensors, refrigeration efficiency and liquid fertilizer production.
These results still reflect a period marked by the environmental and sustainability policies of the previous government of Gabriel Boric, which, even at the end of its term, was still exploring circular economy strategies for fisheries and aquaculture.
Just ten days before Chile's new Undersecretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture took office—appointed by Chile's new President, José Antonio Kast, Osvaldo Urrutia Silva was sworn in on March 13—the previous Subpesca managers allocated USD 120M to help transition salmon farming to a circular economy.
Thus, with the certifications now known, Chile's second most exported product, after copper, closes a four-year cycle that reinforces its position as one of the world's leading producers of farmed salmon—it is second only to Norway—, with nearly 30% of the global supply and a presence in more than 100 markets, including the United States, Japan, Brazil, China and Mexico.
As SalmonChile pointed out, Chilean salmon farming is concentrated in the Los Lagos, Aysén, and Magallanes regions in the far south of the country, generating more than 86,000 direct and indirect jobs. The sector contributes 2.1% to Chile's Gross Domestic Product and, at the regional level, has been the main driver of growth in the southern macrozone.
Following these results, Chile not only maintains its second-place ranking worldwide in farmed salmon production, but according to the trade association, the APL's results strengthen the sector's international competitiveness through measurable improvements in environmental management, resource efficiency, and traceability.
"That is what we are celebrating today. The will to keep improving, to raise standards, to innovate, to measure ourselves with rigour, and to demonstrate that development and environmental protection can move forward in the same direction," concluded the trade leader, Patricio Melero.
This progress will be made under the 'National Reconstruction and Economic and Social Development Law'—better known as the "reconstruction bill"—which the new government is committed to and which has been well received by the Chilean salmon industry, which considers it a positive step to boost the country's growth, recover jobs, and generate the certainty required for long-term investment.