You Said, We Did | February 2025

How we’re supporting our customers to access dairy product emissions data

Through our Voice of Customer programme, we’ve been listening to our customers to understand their needs and identify areas for improvement. In our “You Said, We Did” publication, we share what we’ve been doing differently based on our customers’ feedback. In the February 2025 edition, we explain how our 2023 Voice of Customer survey led us to develop the NZMP™ Carbon Footprinter. 

What our customers were saying

Our customers told us that to achieve their sustainability ambitions, they need regular sustainability information from their suppliers. 83% want specific data including the carbon footprint of the products they buy.¹ Customers also want to know what NZMP has to offer, and how we can support them on their own sustainability journey.
 

“We want help with the carbon footprint of the ingredients we buy.”

NZMP customer, New Zealand
 

With increasing regulations and stakeholder interest in businesses’ climate-related risk, our customers want to know the carbon footprint of the products they buy and any potential reductions over the long term. Understanding the carbon footprint of the New Zealand dairy products they buy with the associated assumptions and methodologies used, supports both customers’ needs for data and transparency and may go on to help support any reporting or disclosure requirements they may have.

How we acted on our customers’ feedback

We know that for many of our customers, we’re a large part of their Scope 3 emissions. We wanted to make it easy for customers to understand the impact that our products have within their own supply chains.​

So, in February 2024, we launched the NZMP™ Carbon Footprinter, ​allowing users to easily access the average product level emissions data for main New Zealand sourced NZMP products.​ We know that New Zealand is a long way geographically from many of our markets. That’s why we went one step further by including the average shipping emissions data from New Zealand to key destinations around the globe, providing further transparency for our customers.

Customers can select from our New Zealand major dairy product categories, input the volume they purchase, shipping location, and then easily retrieve the current carbon emissions of the products they purchase today, as well as potential reductions out to 2030 based on the assumption that Fonterra successfully meets its 2030 climate targets.​ Customers can also see the average emissions generated in shipping the products from New Zealand to key destinations around the globe.

We also offer customers Carbon Footprint Certificates for our New Zealand sourced NZMP products. This provides customers with independent assurance of the product level emissions in the New Zealand sourced NZMP products they purchase. Our Carbon Footprint Certificates are certified by Toitū Envirocare, a wholly owned subsidiary of a New Zealand government Crown Research Institute. 

Success results

The NZMP™ Carbon Footprinter has had over 4,000 users of the tool to date. It provides customers with access to simplified product level emissions data of the New Zealand products they buy, which can help them understand the impact within their own supply chain.

Fonterra’s Director of Sustainability, Charlotte Rutherford, says the NZMP™ Carbon Footprinter is one way the Co-operative is helping customers understand how Fonterra’s sustainability achievements and climate targets relates to the products they purchase.

“We’re continuously working to build closer connections with our customers through our sustainability performance. We’ve been reporting on sustainability for some time now and the level of data we have throughout our manufacturing operations and down to an individual farm level is of huge value to many of our customers. Being able to provide tools like this is a great example of how we are using this data to strengthen relationships with our customers."

Charlotte Rutherford, Director of Sustainability, Fonterra