The major milestone was marked with the official ribbon-cutting of a new electrode boiler at its Southland milk powder plant, replacing one of the site’s five coal-fired burners.
The ceremony, attended by Minister of Climate Change and Energy Simon Watts, Invercargill MP Penny Simmonds, representatives from the Hokonui and Waihopai Runanga, Environment Southland and two southern mayors, celebrated what Fonterra described as a key step in its "decarbonisation journey".
Fonterra chief operating officer Anna Palairet announced the construction of two more electricity-powered boilers would begin shortly and were expected to be operational by August 2027.
The new and incoming boilers would help the company achieve a 50.4% reduction of carbon emissions by 2030.
General manager of operations for the lower South Island Andrew Johns said the upcoming $70m project would engage more than 400 local and national contractors.
The newly installed boiler was designed by a team of engineers in Napier, made in China and then put together and constructed by New Zealand-based personnel.
The company tried to hire Southland workers when possible, but the infrastructure or ability to build this new kind of asset in New Zealand was still growing, Mr Johns said.
Addressing the crowd, Mr Watts said growing the economy was "interconnected" with meeting emissions targets.
Businesses in the private sector such as Fonterra were leading the innovation charge and sometimes it was best for the government to get out of the way of business and industry.
The government was doing anything it could to remove the "red or green tape" to create less friction in the system, he said.
It wanted to partner with industry and Fonterra’s farmers across the country as they were the "backbone of our economy".
During the tour, spectators saw the beginnings of the construction site of the plant’s UHT milk plant which will be completed next year.
Mr Johns said the thermal heat generated from the five existing boilers, and the two more to come, could be distributed to any of the factories on site — "whether it’s making cream products or powders or proteins".
Fonterra’s Edendale plant is New Zealand’s oldest dairy processing site, established in 1881.
