Super polluter Fonterra desperately wants to look like they’re taking a lead on combatting the climate crisis. Their trick: lobbying hard for lax regulation while making a lot of noise about magical technological fixes in the future instead of actually reducing real emissions.
As Fonterra tries to uphold the image of a leader on sustainability in the dairy industry, it relies heavily on the magical power of promising to fix it later. In particular, promising the salvation of technological innovation is especially popular in the dairy industry. As Fonterra does not want to reduce the volume of milk flowing through its factories, they focus on experimenting with methane-inhibitors like DSM-Firmenich’s feed additive, Bovaer®.
Use of Bovaer® has met with backlash from consumers, with some even pouring milk down the drain. Fonterra responded to the backlash saying it doesn’t use the particular brand of feed additive, which isn’t yet approved for use on New Zealand farms. While technically true, this is mostly because the trials run by Fonterra and DSM-Firmenich found that it wasn’t very effective on animals that are mainly grazing on pasture.
So does that mean that Fonterra came to their senses, gave up on magical solutions for the future and faced the reality of cutting emissions here and now? No, they simply moved on to other experimental technologies!
Meanwhile, the climate hazard that is Fonterra has been spending millions on lobbying for delayed and watered down environmental regulations, in New Zealand, Europe and the US.
The dairy industry, led by Fonterra, is New Zealand’s worst climate polluter and by mimicking the lobbying strategies of Big Oil and Big Tobacco, they have worked tirelessly to get governments to give them a free pass, which they have.
And let’s face it, it is much easier for the New Zealand government to promote a policy of experimental feed additives and make it sound like a climate initiative, than it is to confess to dropping the ball on regulating the country’s worst polluter.
And in turn, it really helps to have the government back you up when you say you’re pushing the envelope, when what you are really doing is dragging your feet.