Stakeholder dialogue

Suppliers, employees, customers, authorities and interest organisations all contribute to making Royal Greenland a significant active player, both in local communities and on the global stage.

We enjoy broad cooperation and dialogue with many stakeholders, whose input plays a significant role in our approach to business operations, our priorities and our actions. The results of our stakeholder dialogue also greatly influence our Sustainability Programme.

The circle shows the internal and external stakeholders with whom Royal Greenland interacts.

Owners and local communities

As a government-owned company, thereby owned by Greenland's society, Royal Greenland operates more than 35 facilities in Greenland. Greenland's society therefore takes a great interest in how much Royal Greenland purchases from local fishermen, how our own fisheries perform and how many people are employed at the company’s many facilities. In smaller towns and settlements, fisheries and the local fish processing factory are often the only local industry and are thereby vitally important for local employment and the economic situation.

An arm’s length principle applies between Royal Greenland and Naalakkersuisut (the Government of Greenland), which represents the owner, but nonetheless, there is regular dialogue between the parties. Royal Greenland is politically independent and cooperates with the government in office at any time. Financial statements, including the number of employees and contributions to local communities, are presented at the annual general meeting.

Employees

Royal Greenland’s employees are the company’s culture bearers. Good and efficient day-to-day operations at our many locations rely on skilled and committed employees, and in smaller communities, this responsibility is held by a very small number of people. At Royal Greenland, we practise an open door policy, where there is always time to listen to the challenges and needs of our employees and to ensure support for both small and large workplaces. At all processing plants and on all ships, the necessary training and education are offered, and in Greenland, special efforts are made to ensure the personal and professional development of each employee. Part of our sustainability programme addresses this topic and care is taken to ensure the welfare of both our employees and their families.

Regular employee satisfaction surveys are conducted in Greenland, and the results have improved from one survey to the next. The most recent survey is described on page 47 of the 2019 Annual Report.

Royal Greenland has drawn up a Code of Conduct for employees, which briefly describes responsible conduct, rights and protection of the individual employee.

In 2021, we implemented a whistleblower scheme so that employees can either anonymously or openly submit serious complaints or report detected irregularities.

Suppliers

Fishermen in local, often small, communities are very important partners. The processing plants rely on daily, fresh deliveries and a good relationship is vital to ensuring a constant flow of fresh fish. Regular meetings are therefore held with the fishermen, to exchange knowledge of fishing and production, so that cooperation is optimised in the best possible way.

For other suppliers, such as packaging, ingredients and transport suppliers, the primary dialogue takes place via the procurement department, which communicates requirements concerning responsibility, ethics, certification and the quality of the goods purchased.

Customers

Royal Greenland’s sales can primarily be divided into sales to the three segments comprising retail, foodservice and industry. Customer dialogue takes place on a day-to-day basis between Royal Greenland's sales organisation and the customer’s procurement manager. In addition, experts specialising in different areas are available as required. This might concern information and negotiations concerning different qualities, specifications, sustainability aspects and the customer's marketing.

Asia is Royal Greenland’s largest market region, measured by revenue, followed by Europe, Scandinavia and North America.

Royal Greenland regularly issues the digital newsletter 'Seafood Insight' to professional customers. Information about new developments in fisheries, production, market trends, etc. is provided here. On the company’s news site, articles for other interested parties are also published regularly. In addition, a number of specific newsletters are sent out to end-users in the foodservice segment and to interested consumers. In 2020, the digital web platform was expanded with the current extensive subsite on Royal Greenland’s sustainability programme.

Authorities

Contact and dialogue with the authorities is a precondition for fishing, operations and release of goods for sale. We have a good and open dialogue with relevant authorities, including food, environmental and fisheries authorities.

Royal Greenland is involved in new legislation by responding  to legislative consultations, for example within management plans for fisheries, action plans to prevent ghost fishing and quota proposals, etc.

We are also actively involved in the development of Greenlandic society by contributing to the training of young people and the supplementary training of our own employees. We are in close dialogue with national institutions and demand from Royal Greenland will often determine whether a specific training programme is launched.

Lenders

Sustainability is on the agenda of financial investors and banks to a far greater extent than before. Royal Greenland enjoys a high level of creditworthiness among lenders and our expanded sustainability programme is relevant to fulfilling lenders’ expectations.

Fisheries organisations and trade unions

Fishermen are members of joint fisheries associations, which are the overall spokespersons for the many fishermen in Greenland. Regular meetings are held with these organisations in order to establish agreements.

Sustainable Fisheries Greenland (SFG)

Through our partnership with Sustainable Fisheries Greenland (SFG), which consists of players in the Greenlandic fishing industry, we cooperate with authorities, research institutions, etc. on sustainable development, for example in the Fishery Improvement Project for Greenland halibut, which fulfils the industry's requirements and also the requirements under the standards for which we hold certification.

Research and development cooperation

Royal Greenland cooperates closely with national and foreign institutions and research groups in areas such as fisheries consulting, habitat studies and food development. At Royal Greenland itself and through the SFG partnership, development projects and studies of fish and shellfish are undertaken, e.g. in collaboration with the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources.

For many years, there has also been close cooperation with the National Food Institute at DTU (Technical University of Denmark) on ensuring the food safety of lightly preserved products.

Cooperation with different institutions is important in all areas where Royal Greenland has processing plants and sales, so that we can constantly improve our performance.

NGOs, media and other producers

Last but not least, we are involved in dialogue and cooperation with NGOs, media and other producers. This might concern larger or smaller projects for which knowledge sharing and dissemination are important.