Axfoundation named 2022’s Societal Actor of the Year
For their wide-ranging sustainability initiatives and innovative projects that contribute to the transition to sustainable development in various industries, Axfoundation is honored the Swedish Societal Actor of the Year award in the category of Sustainability. The prize is awarded by the communications agency Gullers Grupp and the newspaper Dagens industri.
– We share this award with our more than 200 partners. Partners who are absolutely crucial to creating practical solutions to complex sustainability challenges. We’re proud to be honored as the Societal Actor of the Year, and it gives us more energy to keep working relentlessly and purposefully for sustainable development, says Maria Smith, Secretary General of Axfoundation.
The “Societal Actor of the Year” prize is awarded by the communications agency Gullers Grupp in collaboration with the newspaper Dagens industri. It is given to organizations or people who “make efforts for the good of all of us.” The prize is awarded in three categories: Sustainability, Leadership, and Innovation, and Axfoundation has won in the “Sustainability” category.
The jury’s statement
With their solid groundbreaking projects they create conditions for transition and sustainable development in various industries. With their wide-ranging sustainability initiatives and collaboration with other actors, Axfoundation contributes a holistic perspective with a long-term approach and acts as a system-influencing force in Sweden and globally.
Axfoundation runs a range of projects in three program areas: Sustainable Production & Consumption, Circular Economy, and Future Food. The Future Food program has given rise to such innovations as minced bream made from unused fish in Swedish lakes, as well as Sweden’s first “green” rainbow trout, which are bred on circular-based feed made from insects. Within the Circular Economy area, the Swedish Wool Initiative is striving to ensure that no Swedish wool is wasted. And one current project in Sustainable Production & Consumption is ProPare, a wide-ranging collaboration aimed at developing an open, global infrastructure for the digital product passports that are expected to become a legal standard in the EU within a couple of years. In all of their projects, Axfoundation collaborates with partners in various sectors and industries, not least to connect researchers with the business community in order to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable society.
– We’ve always seen companies as a powerful, positive force for change in the transition to a sustainable society. Axfoundation is harnessing that same power as a starting point to drive transformative change – now! As a practical and independent ‘do-tank,’ Axfoundation combines entrepreneurship and strong partnerships to test and develop new solutions that will work in the long term, regardless of industry, says Alexandra Mörner, Chairman of the Board of Axfoundation.
Minced bream - Future Food
To better use underutilized fish species, Axfoundation developed a production chain for a bycatch from Swedish lakes: bream. The minced bream is currently handled by a commercial actor and is available for sale from restaurant and commercial kitchen wholesalers. Consumer product such as fish cakes made from bream are now also available in the freezer section of their local supermarket.
Circular based fish feed via insects - Future Food
Together with SLU and partners throughout the food chain, Axfoundation developed a pilot-scale infrastructure to convert vegetable-based waste streams into a high-protein feedstock for farmed fish. The result was Sweden’s first “green” rainbow trout, bred on a circular-based feed mainly made from insects – insects which, in turn, had been raised on a diet of food waste.
Swedish Wool initiative - Circular Ekonomy
Through collaboration with numerous actors throughout the entire value chain, the project aims to scale up the use of Swedish wool and contribute to the transition to a sustainable and circular industry for fashion, outdoor goods and home furnishings. Together with the project’s academic partners and expert group, solutions based on both research and practical experience are developed. Recently, a yarn created from Swedish wool with a higher proportion of organic material was presented, which may serve as the basis for circular textiles.
ProPare - Sustainable Production and Consumption
Within a couple of years, the EU is expected to implement new legislation that requires all products to have a product passport. ProPare aims to develop the infrastructure that underlies digital product passports. The foundation of the project is a resolver function based on an open, competitively neutral and global standard. Through an open infrastructure, all actors – suppliers and retailers as well as authorities and consumers – can get credible sustainability data about products in real time, regardless of industry, company or product category.
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