Anti-coal group protests outside Fonterra's Auckland office

Auckland's Coal Action Group stages a protest outside Fonterra. Photo / NZ Herald

The Auckland Coal Action Group staged a small protest outside Fonterra's head office in Auckland today over the co-op's continued use of coal in its manufacturing processes.

Spokesman Peter Whitmore said Fonterra had not done enough to wean itself off coal, despite having joined the recently-formed Climate Leaders Coalition business group.

He said Fonterra, New Zealand's second largest coal user, still had not taken any meaningful steps to reduce its emissions by switching to sustainable fuels or to other processing methods in its big dairy factories.

"The need to rapidly phase out of coal use has now been clearly articulated by many scientists over a long period," Whitmore said in a statement.

"It is over 10 years since leading climate scientist, James Hansen, said that to maintain a liveable planet, coal must be phased out in developed countries by 2025 and in developing countries by 2030, a finding that has also been backed up by more recent studies," he said.

Fonterra said in a short statement that it respected the right of New Zealanders to express their opinions, and that it supported New Zealand's commitments to the Paris Agreement.

"The action we have taken includes developing a road map with the Government to have net zero emissions in Global Operations by 2050 on the way to using 100 per cent renewable energy," Fonterra said.

"It's still our intention to work with Government and understand the policies they have planned to support and enable a cost-effective transition from coal and gas, to lower emissions energy sources," Fonterra said.

The dairy co-operative uses the intense heat generated by coal and gas for a network of driers which take the water out of milk in order to turn it into milk powder.

Most of Fonterra's North Island plants use gas while the co-op's South Island plants, which don't have access to pipeline gas, use coal.