Greenpeace protest - Fonterra Centre

A protest planned for tomorrow (November 24) by Greenpeace at the Fonterra Centre in Auckland ignores the good progress being made by Fonterra and the dairy industry to improve sustainability.

Fonterra is the first to agree there’s always room for improvement on sustainability and environmental issues. But, it’s more a case of keeping up the momentum. What these protests by Greenpeace ignore is that Fonterra and our industry are well ahead of the game in many respects.


Claims by Greenpeace that “intensive dairying is responsible for New Zealand's skyrocketing climate pollution” are simply incorrect. Emissions from agriculture have been growing at about half the national rate – 12% versus 22%.

THE FACTS:

• · Fonterra has cut energy use per tonne of product by 34% since 1990. Annual saving over the past five years is equivalent to the electrical energy use of about 100,000 households.
• · Through our investment in energy efficiency Fonterra’s annual C02 emissions are 300,000 tonnes lower than they would have been for milk processing. We are making further gains in milk collection and final product transportation.
• · More than 90% of Fonterra’s waste is reused or recycled.
• · Fonterra is investing millions of dollars, in partnership with Government, in leading edge research to further reduce the dairy industry’s carbon footprint.
• · New Zealand farmers are among the most efficient producers of milk in the world. The emissions efficiency of farmers has been improving at a rate of about 1% per year since 1990.
• · Our farmers continue to reach or exceed key targets under the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord. One area which remains disappointing is dairy effluent compliance rates nationally. Fonterra has invested in more support and educational resources to lift compliance rates and introduced tougher financial penalties for non-compliance, including stopping milk collection.
• · RD1’s joint venture supplier of Palm Kernel Expeller (PKE) stockfeed, Wilmar, is a long-time member of the RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil). Fonterra’s procurement policy includes pushing for certification and more sustainable supplies of products and services.
• · Fonterra will not tolerate animal cruelty and will take the strongest action in cases that warrant it. We have stopped collecting from a supplier in Australia this year.

Fonterra is taking these issues seriously. We are, like many other companies in New Zealand, putting real action and investment behind our commitment to sustainability.

Fonterra will be continuing to show leadership and share learnings from our work in sustainability with other New Zealand companies and industries.