Written by: Hannah Hartley, MSc, Sustainability Analyst at Topigs Norsvin.
Featured image: Wopke Geurts, Country Director for the Netherlands at Anthesis, and Marcel Huijsmans, Global Marketing Director at Topigs Norsvin.
Summary
Topigs Norsvin has partnered with global sustainability consultancy Anthesis to strengthen our sustainability strategy and achieve CSRD compliance by 2028. As a global pig breeding company, Topigs Norsvin recognizes its critical role in shaping sustainable pork production worldwide. The partnership will focus on identifying material sustainability topics through an impact-risk-opportunity exercise, implementing data collection tools, and providing strategic advisory services. Leveraging Anthesis’s 1,400 sustainability specialists and proven livestock sector experience, this collaboration aims to measure the company’s full impact and advance sustainable development throughout the pork production chain.
New Partnership to Advance Sustainability Goals
We are excited to announce our partnership with Anthesis! As we have a complex, technical business model that dives into both biotechnology and pig farming, we recognize the value of collaborating with sustainability experts to advance our sustainable business development – especially in an ever-changing sustainability landscape.
“Sustainability is fundamental to our position as a global leader in pig breeding. By partnering with Anthesis, we’re ensuring our sustainability strategy is as robust and innovative as our genetics. We now have access to world-class expertise and tools that will help us measure our true impact and drive meaningful progress throughout the pork value chain,” says Marcel Huijsmans, Global Marketing Director at Topigs Norsvin.
“Sustainability is fundamental to our position as a global leader in pig breeding.”
Marcel Huijsmans, Global Marketing Director at Topigs Norsvin
Anthesis is equipped with around 1,400 sustainability specialists in data, decarbonization, regulations, and communications globally. They also have experience consulting in food retail and livestock, which makes us confident that Anthesis is exactly the right partner in our sustainability journey.
As a breeding company, we have an important role in the future of pork production. We supply genetics – animals and semen – to farmers globally. Farmers sit at the intersection of humans and nature; by supplying animals and products, we impact that relationship every day with our operations. Moreover, we have the goal to achieve CSRD compliance by 2028, allowing us to align with the gold-standard of sustainability monitoring in the sector.
Collaboration Focus Areas
The partnership has a few primary focus areas for work – an impact-risk-opportunity (IRO) exercise, collection and analysis of sustainability data using Mero (Anthesis’s digital tool), and customised advisory for project-based sustainability improvements. The IRO exercise is designed to better understand our business context among a variety of sustainability topics. By performing this exercise, we will be able to pinpoint which topics are most relevant and create value for our stakeholders. This will allow us to effectively narrow down the most important data to collect and the activities to prioritise in our roadmap.
“Working with Topigs Norsvin means working at the very start of the pork production system. By combining their technical leadership with our sustainability expertise, we can help drive meaningful impact where it matters most – from genetics all the way through to farmers and the wider value chain,” says Wopke Geurts, Country Director for the Netherlands at Anthesis.
At Topigs Norsvin, we see this partnership as a critical step to ensure that we understand the full impact of our business, bring value to the pork production chain, and foster sustainable development as a chain partner.
Stay tuned for more insights from our sustainability journey!
About the Author
Hannah Hartley joined Topigs Norsvin as Sustainability Analyst in February 2025. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Applied Animal Science from Van Hall Larenstein and a master’s degree from Wageningen University, with a focus on animal production systems and sustainability.
We Breed Sustainable Pork
In times of climate change, where reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a top priority, the pig plays a key role in the sustainable provision of premium proteins to a growing world population. Topigs Norsvin takes responsibility for breeding pigs that thrive in future production environments—stronger, healthier, and more efficient.
Pigs can digest low-quality feed and efficiently convert it into high-quality proteins with low greenhouse gas excretion. This makes pork one of the most sustainable protein sources.
The Sustainability Program
At Topigs Norsvin, sustainability is not viewed as a separate initiative, but as an integrated part of how the company develops genetics, supports farmers, and contributes to society.
At this moment in time, our sustainability program focuses on three main areas: data collection & business advisory, awareness & education, and communications. We are currently developing our roadmap to achieve CSRD compliance in 2028. We are also working with a sustainability partner to refine our sustainability strategy. Stay tuned for updates on our sustainability journey and progress toward CSRD compliance.
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