Fonterra has released its sustainability score card summarising progress towards its people and environmental targets.
Said Fraser Whineray, COO, Fonterra: “Transparently reporting across a range of sustainability metrics is very important for our Co-operative. At the time of our annual results release next week we will also publish our fifth Sustainability Report. This covers in detail our activities across business, people and environment, three vital ingredients for a sustainable Co-operative. In advance of that, we are sharing a summarised scorecard covering the people and environmental aspects.”
One of the biggest ones is the 11% reduction in GHG emissions from coal in a single year, primarily through the conversion to renewable wood pellets at our Te Awamutu site. This is a great step towards delivering our 2030 target and our goal of getting out of coal by 2037.
This was the major contributor to a global reduction of 6.5% in scope one and two GHG emissions. We were also very pleased to see that project winning the Low Carbon Future category at the New Zealand Energy Excellence Awards.
Continured Whineray: “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% renewable thermal energy site. We are already one of the most carbon efficient producers of dairy nutrition in the world, and there is more to be done.
“It is important we continue to make progress in our operations to complement the significant innovation and change by our farmer owners. One of the ways we’re supporting their on-farm activity is through The Co-operative Difference.”
This season The Co-operative Difference payment for milk comes into effect. In addition to valuing milk quality, it rewards farmers for on-farm demonstration of care for the environment, animals, people and community.
For the 20/21 season there was a 25 percent increase in farms achieving Te Tihi (the top) and Te Puku (the midpoint), with around a third of our farmer owners recognised in the overall programme.
53% of farmers in New Zealand also have tailored Farm Environment Plans, up from 34% last year. We are on track to meet our target of 100% by 2025 and these are provided free of charge to all Fonterra farmers.
Concluded Whineray: “Considering our people goals, whilst there has been improvement towards our diversity targets there is room for improvement when it comes to women and ethnic minorities in senior leadership positions. Our gender pay gap has narrowed across all job categories. In New Zealand the Co-op is now down to 3.8% on a median basis, compared to the national average of 9.5%.
“We have also recently extended our parental leave in New Zealand so employees will now have their government parental leave cover topped up to 100% of base salary or wages for 26 weeks. We are pleased to see employee engagement increasing with more teams in the top quartile and the Co-op was just shy of being in the top quartile overall.” For more visit fonterra.com/nz/en/embracing-sustainability/our-progress.html
