Press release - November 7, 2010
Greenpeace is urging Fonterra not to ignore the important discussions about the links between sustainability, climate change, and dairying that will be taking place at this week’s World Dairy Summit.
The summit has been organised by the International Dairying Federation. It starts tomorrow (Monday) at Auckland’s Skycity conference centre.
Fonterra placed prominent newspaper advertisements over the weekend of 6-7 November, claiming sustainability as one of its core concerns.
But while Fonterra is positioning itself at the Summit as the do-no-wrong darling of the New Zealand economy, Greenpeace says the reality is one of corporate mismanagement, manifested by a short-sighted lack of concern for the environment - which happens to form the backbone of Fonterra’s marketing.
“The advertisement’s claims of sustainability aren’t worth the newsprint they’re printed on. Fonterra’s mantra is ‘production at any cost,’ as demonstrated by its actions,” says Greenpeace New Zealand’s Senior Climate Campaigner, Simon Boxer.
“Fonterra’s palm kernel feed comes from an industry that is worsening the climate crisis as it clears South East Asia’s rainforests.
“To make things worse, Fonterra insists on burning coal in its dehydrators,” says Boxer.
“Meanwhile, every New Zealander knows that freshwater quality has taken a dive in the nine years that it has taken Fonterra to industrialise dairying in this country.
“Fonterra then has the cheek to use this country’s clean green reputation to sell its low-value bulk dairy products,” Boxer says.
Greenpeace Climate Campaigner Nathan Argent will be attending the conference to contribute some of Greenpeace’s expertise in climate change issues. Greenpeace regularly takes part in such conferences, both here and overseas.
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Greenpeace’s Q and A on palm kernel can be found here: www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/en/reports/Palm-Kernel-Expeller-Q--A1/