However, "pretty good" progress had been made towards the zero-coal goal, with less than a third of Fonterra's sites currently using it, Cronin said.
"Only nine of our 29 sites currently use coal...we've got our wood pellets that we use at our Te Awamutu site and we're co-firing with wood biomass at our Brightwater site."
Fonterra determined that switching coal boilers to wood biomass, rather than electricity, was the most efficient decarbonisation plan for its sites.
For example, the Te Awamutu conversion had reduced the total amount of coal Fonterra used by 10 per cent.
"That's the equivalent of taking 32,000 cars off the road," Cronin said.
Meanwhile, at Brightwater, the co-firing reduced the site's emissions by 25 per cent.
Fonterra was also working with Climate Change Commission guidelines on-farm, Cronin said.
While New Zealand dairy farmers already had the lowest carbon footprint in the world, "we know we can still do more," he said.
Fonterra supported working with the government and the broader industry to create a long-term plan for research and development.
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The co-op had made farm-specific GHG emissions profiles available to all its New Zealand farmers, and 42 per cent of Kiwi farms supplying Fonterra had a tailored Farm Environment Plan, which Cronin said was "really important".
Fonterra had also invested in research and development to find on-farm methane mitigation solutions, including a seaweed trial, the "Kowbucha" project, and a partnership with DSM to limit methane production from cows.
The co-op was also tackling transport emissions and supported increased electric vehicles and use of low carbon fuels, Cronin said.
"When we renew our own fleet cars, [we're] going to replace them with EVs, and over the next three years or so, at least a third of our light fleet will be on electricity."
