Fonterra's Climate Crimes

Greenpeace activists barricaded Fonterra’s Auckland head-quarters last week to raise awareness of what they call ‘climate crimes’ by Fonterra. Our national dairy exporter has been responsible for importing well over a million tones of palm kernel this year, and that amount is set to increase annually. 

Fonterra has previously defended their practice of feeding palm kernel to cows, by saying that it is a by-product of the palm oil industry and would otherwise be wasted, or burnt.  Greenpeace claims this is misleading, and labels the sale of palm kernel as a “cornerstone of the palm products business…worth hundreds of millions of dollars”

Greenpeace sent a team of investigators to Indonesia to see first hand what was happening there.  A report on the news tab of the Greenpeace website www.greenpeace.org.nz states “While documenting the clearance of rainforests in the area they were arrested by Indonesian police and taken into custody. Much of their footage was confiscated and they were questioned for several hours before being released.”

Indonesian rainforests are being clear-felled to create massive palm plantations.  The only habitat of the Orang-utan is under severe pressure, and the support of Fonterra for the palm industry is helping to push this endangered species towards extinction.

Greenpeace states “Fonterra also claims that its partner in Indonesia, Wilmar International, only uses sustainably-sourced palm kernel expeller. But the facts tell another story. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) - a voluntary certification scheme set up in 2002 to develop ways to secure palm oil from sustainable sources - says only six per cent of the world's palm products are sustainably produced. And Fonterra farms buy almost one quarter of the world's palm kernel trade.”

The claims of the big company are directly contradicted by compelling evidence gathered by environmental activists on the front lines.

Last year Greenpeace activists first blew the whistle on palm kernel imports by chaining themselves to a ship they thought was importing palm kernel into NZ.  At the time Kevin Hague, Green Party biosecurity spokesman said "Not only does palm kernel destroy rainforests and damage New Zealand grain and maize farmers, it has now been proven to be a serious biosecurity threat.  It is extremely worrying that palm kernel imports are being fumigated with methyl bromide. It means this toxic chemical is being introduced into the food chain."

Greenpeace obviously didn’t believe that the palm kernel imported for Fonterra was ‘truly sustainable’ as claimed.  As well as environmental impacts, continuing to import palm kernel as feed for cows could impact New Zealand’s clean and green image.  Globally, large companies such as Cadbury have been quick to respond to public concerns about the rainforest destruction and have stopped using palm products.

Public concerns are heard and listened to by big companies, so if you think Fonterra’s actions could harm NZ’s reputation, if you don’t like that they are contributing to destruction of Orang-utan habitat,  if you think the import of palm kernel is hurting growers of maize silage in NZ, then let them know. You can find their contact details at  www.fonterra.com.