Eight members of our community - who are committed members of Greenpeace - appeared in court yesterday on willful trespass charges after they scaled Fonterra’s Te Rapa factory last October and hung a 160 square metre banner reading ‘Fonterra’s methane cooks the climate’.

Greenpeace spokesperson Sinéad Deighton-O’Flynn says, "These people scaled Fonterra’s factory because Fonterra is cooking the climate with superheating methane gas - and it refuses to take responsibility for its pollution."

On October 9th, a number of individuals peacefully protested at Fonterra’s Te Rapa milk processing plant and hung two banners off the sides of the building. They remained in place for several hours before being removed from the site. No damage was caused.

Without yet providing any documentary material, Fonterra has now requested a reparation payment of $300,000 from them. As a result, they will not be offered diversion as had been proposed by the New Zealand Police, which would otherwise be offered to anyone else in the same circumstances. This approach is also crippling for the individuals concerned and threatens their own employment and finances.

Greenpeace considers Fonterra’s approach to be "an aggressive and draconian attempt to silence peaceful protest action involving climate change in New Zealand".

The individuals that took part in this action will resist paying any reparation to Fonterra as a matter of principle and because their own financial circumstances will not permit this. Before this will be argued they will require Fonterra to provide all its commercial documents that it relies on to justify this reparation sum. The proceeding has been adjourned for all this material to be handed over.

"Our people are standing in court, accountable for their actions, and we will not be opting out and paying off the country’s biggest climate polluter. Now it’s time for Fonterra to be accountable for its pollution," says Deighton-O’Flynn.

"This demand is an attack on peaceful protesters who are trying to ensure a liveable future for all. Once again, the intensive livestock industry is taking notes from the playbook of the oil and gas industry, by trying to suppress peaceful protest against their climate pollution.

"Climate change is an issue that confronts us all and those who took part in the action, and those just like it, represent us all. They are prepared to stand up publicly for us all to seek required change. They will be viewed by history as champions just like those who have gone before and who have achieved positive change.

"Climate change is real, and it will impact on us in our lifetimes and many generations to come. We all need to be accountable for that and hold climate polluters to account, just as these activists have done here."

Greenpeace is calling on Fonterra to cut its climate pollution now by reducing the dairy herd size.

"Fonterra has been New Zealand’s worst climate polluter for four years in a row," says Deighton-O’Flynn. "There are simply too many cows in Aotearoa. But we can still prevent the worst of the climate crisis.

"While methane is much more potent than carbon dioxide, it stays in the atmosphere for much less time. That means that if we can cut methane emissions, and keep them down, we can pull the climate emergency brake and prevent the worst climate disasters."

"The best part is, we already know how to reduce climate pollution from intensive dairying," says Deighton-O’Flynn. "We must reduce the global dairy herd size and transition towards more ecological, plant-based, regenerative food systems. As the world’s biggest exporter of dairy products and a global dairy industry heavyweight, Fonterra has a major role to play in this.

"All around the world, people are taking to the courtrooms and the streets, and putting their bodies on the line, to stand up against climate polluters like Fonterra. We will not be silenced. If Fonterra does not reduce its climate pollution, it should expect further resistance."

The eight individuals who participated in the protest will appear in Hamilton District Court for sentencing on 23rd June.

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