The reduction was reported as part of its yearly sustainability scorecard, which shows progress towards environmental and human resources targets.
The 11 per cent reduction in emissions from coal was a big contributor to Fonterra’s global green house gas reduction of 6.5 per cent from manufacturing emissions, chief operations officer Fraser Whineray said.
“Having committed to get out of coal by 2037 from the nine remaining sites, Te Awamutu provided material GHG reductions and further confidence to undertake our next project at our Stirling cheese site in the South Island. Stirling will become our first 100 per cent renewable thermal energy site,” Whineray said.
The Te Awamutu project was the biggest decarbonisation project in the country last year, he said.
Fonterra was also rewarding farmers for sustainability improvements with its new milk payment, the Co-operative Difference. On-farm demonstration of care for the environment, animals, people and community could earn farmers an extra 10 cents per kilogram of milk solids, Whineray said.
”The average farmer does 170,000 kgs, so that’s $17,000 [a year].”
A third of Fonterra suppliers had been recognised in the programme for the 2020/21 season, which runs from May to May, with about 25 per cent hitting the top and midpoints for the programme.
Just over half of all suppliers had developed a tailored farm environmental plan, up from 34 per cent last year and the co-op was on track to meet its target of 100 per cent by 2025. Farm plans were provided free of charge to all Fonterra farmers.
However, there was room for improvement when it came its people goals, especially women and ethnic minorities in senior leadership roles, Whineray said.
The goal was that 50 per cent of leadership roles would be held by women by next year, while it was hoped ethnic representation would reach 20 per cent in the same period. However, only 32.4 per cent of leadership roles were held by women and just 9 per cent by ethnic minorities.
Whineray said ethnic diversity in senior leadership was probably the biggest thing to work on for next year’s scorecard. Progress was better on pay, however.
“Our gender pay gap has narrowed across all job categories. In New Zealand the co-op is now down to 3.8 per cent on a median basis, compared to the national average of 9.5 per cent.”
Parental leave had been extended to New Zealand employees, who would have their government leave cover topped up to 100 per cent of their base salary or wages for 26 weeks.
Another target set out in its Sustainability Scorecard was a 36 per cent reduction in water use at manufacturing sites in water-constrained regions by 2030 (from its 2018 financial year baseline). It had hit just 2.6 per cent this year. Fonterra’s financial year runs from July to July.
Fonterra had sent 4000 tonnes of solid waste to landfill in the last year, a reduction of 24.6 per cent in one year. The goal was zero waste to landfill by 2025.
Fonterra’s fifth full sustainability report will be released on September 23, along with its yearly financial results.
