Partnering up for positive change

AXFOUNDATION – our closest partnership

ANTONIA AX:SON JOHNSON started the Axfoundation in 1993 as an independent, non-profit business with the aim of working concretely and practically with sustainability issues – with innovation and a belief in entrepreneurship as a force for change as a starting point. Activities include close collaborations with companies, researchers and civil society and span three areas:

• Food of the future,
• Circular economy,
• Sustainable production and consumption.

The Axfoundation is completely independent of Axel Johnson, but collaborates with us and our companies in a number of individual projects. Here are three examples from 2021:

RAINBOW TROUT RAISED ON INSECTS:

Our food should preferably not eat the food we eat. This is one of the basic ideas behind Sweden’s first circularly raised rainbow trout. The Axfoundation, together with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and actors from the entire food chain, has proven that it is possible to grow an environmentally friendly and tasty Swedish fish on a large scale while utilizing an unused raw material resource in the form of food waste from industry. Instead of conventional feed, with imported soy and imported wildcaught fish, the rainbow trout from Älvdalslax is raised on a Swedish circular fish feed consisting mainly of insects. They have in turn eaten organic waste from, among others, Grönsakshallen Sorunda in the form of peels, cores and bread leftovers. In total, the project has produced over four tons of green rainbow trout, which in 2021 will be sold at Hemköp and selected restaurants, including Urban Deli.

THE SWEDISH WOOL INITIATIVE:

Sweden imports large quantities of wool, at the same time as barely half of the wool produced by Swedish farmers is utilized – which is a huge waste of resources. With the vision “zero waste, ” the Axfoundation is project manager for the Swedish Wool Initiative. The goal is to provide Swedish industry with a regionally produced, bio-based and recyclable material that enables the circular products of the future. In 2020, the investment involved a number of partners in the Swedish wool value chain, including Filippa K.

RICE IN PAKISTAN:

Basmati rice from Pakistan is high quality, but for growers the conditions are often difficult. Through long-term efforts since 2015, the Axfoundation, Axfood and Oxfam have contributed to better conditions for more than 2,500 small-scale rice farmers and seasonal workers in Pakistan. New, sustainable cultivation methods have led to reduced carbon dioxide emissions, less water consumption and lower chemical use. In addition, the work has contributed to empowering women and increasing their income by up to 40 percent. A good Garant-brand rice has gotten better.

Partnerships

In addition to the day-to-day operations of our companies, we also participate in a number of partnerships that contribute to sustainable development for us and the surrounding world.