Fonterra CEO Miles Hurrell said New Zealand farmers were some of the most emissions-efficient suppliers of dairy at scale, but work needed to be done to maintain this position and to continue making progress.
Fonterra CEO Miles Hurrell said New Zealand farmers were some of the most emissions-efficient suppliers of dairy at scale, but work needed to be done to maintain this position and to continue making progress.
Dairy co-operative Fonterra says it will target a 30 per cent intensity reduction in on-farm emissions by 2030 (from a 2018 baseline).
Around 86 per cent of Fonterra’s emissions come from on-farm operations.
Fonterra chief executive Miles Hurrell said New Zealand farmers were some of the most emissions-efficient suppliers of dairy at scale, but work needed to be done to maintain this position and to continue making progress.
“Our collective efforts to reduce emissions from on-farm across our operations will help future-proof Fonterra, supporting our ambition to be a long-term sustainable co-op for generations to come”, he said.
“We’re responding to growing sustainability ambitions from our customers and financial institutions, along with increasing market access, legal and reporting obligations.”
Fonterra expected the new target would be achieved in a number of ways, including farming best practices such as feed quality and improving herd performance (7 per cent reduction), novel technologies (7 per cent reduction), carbon removals from existing and new vegetation (8 per cent reduction) and historical land-use change conversions to dairy (8 per cent).
Fonterra chairman Peter McBride said the reduction targets would affect each farm differently.
“We have deep empathy for the challenges our farmers are already dealing with. The co-op’s approach will be to work alongside farmers, not against them, as we collectively make progress towards our target”, McBride said.
“There is significant variation within and across farming systems when it comes to emissions intensity. We are confident that we can make solid progress towards our target by working together and sharing information farmer-to-farmer.
“There’s no one solution to reducing on-farm emissions. It will require a combination of sharing best farming practices and technology to reduce emissions – it’s both our biggest opportunity and our biggest challenge.”
Fonterra chief executive Miles Hurrell. Photo / NZME
Fonterra also launched its Climate Roadmap. The roadmap is a plan that outlines the actions the co-op will take towards its 2030 targets and ambition to be net zero by 2050.
Earlier this year, Fonterra lifted its emissions reduction targets for its manufacturing and operations. This new target completes the package.
New Zealand is the first country in the world to pass a law introducing mandatory climate-related risk reporting, with it becoming mandatory next year for around 200 national companies, including Fonterra.
Fonterra’s 2030 targets are aligned with the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, and they are in the process of submitting their climate targets to the initiative for validation.
Hurrell says he was proud of the steps the co-op was taking to address the challenges it faced when it came to climate.
“Today’s announcements are not just important for Fonterra ...We know we play a significant part in New Zealand’s emissions profile, and it’s up to all of us to work towards helping New Zealand achieve its climate targets.”
These services and technology included milk chilling units, seaweed and “s to help them understand their emissions footprint and was dinvesting in technologies to find a solution to methane production.
These services and technology includes milk chilling units, seaweed and “kowbucha” which are dairy cultures to create new fermentations that could potentially switch off the bad bugs that create methane in cows.
Troy Baisden, Principal Investigator, Te Pūnaha Matatini Centre of Research Excellence; Motu Affiliate; and Honorary Professor in the University of Auckland School of Environment, said it was good to see Fonterra “putting ink to paper” on their climate plans.
“Part of the news is that this is not a sideshow – this announcement is part of their annual meeting at their annual general meeting. That’s a main event in New Zealand’s business and financial calendar.
“What Fonterra is saying also tells us that climate change is no longer a sideshow – it is part of access to preferred markets and value chains.
“The framing of announcements like this is a crucial stage to watch. Now that Fonterra has framed its commitments, we can see what is planned and consider how it will be measured and verified. Environmental scientists and NGOs will look at the details, and there will be debate about how positively Fonterra’s announcements should be seen by its large customers.
“Progress comes in two forms. The first is achieving a 30 per cent reduction by 2030, and the second is signalling some commitment to imagine what net-zero dairy farms may someday look like – through a farming collaboration with Nestlé.
“The target of a 30 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030 isn’t just one reduction. It comes across four main areas. This has been referred to by leading scientists as replacing the unlikely silver bullet approaches we used to hear about with realistic scatters of silver buckshot.
“The different commitments will need verification methodologies, and even those that are relatively far along, such as on-farm feed and herd performance improvements and getting credit for forest and plantings will likely require more work for on-farm incentives to be accurate and fair.”
Professor Sara Walton, Otago Business School, University of Otago; and Co-Director, He Kaupapa Hononga Otago’s Climate Change Research Network, said transitioning to low carbon in this sector was not an easy task and it was important for Fonterra and any large organisation in this sector to show leadership and work in partnership with suppliers and customers in their scope 3 emissions as they report in their latest publications.
“Any company that is exporting is going to need to be actively innovating and transitioning to low carbon. It is good to hear that Fonterra has released a roadmap for their transition and re-assessed its emission targets. Any transition risks should also be clearly outlined in the Climate Disclosures. To not transition to low carbon through mitigation strategies is a significant risk to any organisation and especially those exporting or operating globally.
“The claim made a number of times in the press release of being ‘one of the most emissions efficient suppliers of dairy at scale’ will need to be evidence-based to avoid the risk associated with greenwashing. Any headline claim needs to be matched with evidence to develop integrity in the reporting.
“One of the significant issues with the targets that Fonterra has set is that they have chosen to adopt intensity targets rather than absolute targets for scope 3 emissions.
“While the Forest Land and Agricultural Guidance from the Science Based Targets initiative does allow for intensity emissions in scope 3, the UN recommends absolute targets for emission reduction and I would concur with the UN.
“By only having intensity targets for scope 3 there is the chance that Fonterra would increase these emissions overall while being emission efficient in relation to the intensity measure. Thus the reason for having absolute emission targets.
“It is good practice that Fonterra have completed an early Climate Risk Disclosure. Our research shows that companies complete these early for a number of reasons, but mostly for in-house learning and developing their discloure reporting competencies.
“Do not underestimate farmers and low-carbon and biodiversity innovations occurring on farms currently. Our research points to the changing notion of the ‘good farmer’ in Aotearoa.
“Shifting from a ‘good farmer’ being seen as efficiently productive to also being about how they reduce their environmental impact. Particularly, we found that the intergenerational farmers care deeply about the land and the future they are creating for their family and as such were undertaking environmental initiatives on the farm to create sustainability.”
