Government may help Fonterra move from coal

boilers at its plants from now on, bringing forward its commitment not to do so from 2030.

But Shaw said he did not think Fonterra would or should stop there. ‘‘Merely capping your emissions at today’s level isn’t going to work.’’

Fonterra’s chief operating officer of global operations, Robert Spurway, said getting out of coal was not as easy as ‘‘just flicking a switch’’ but said it was up for the challenge.

‘‘We are currently investigating options to move out of coal and are open to partnerships with government or other parties to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050,’’ he said.

‘‘We have partnered with the Ministry for the Environment to develop a road map to a low emissions future and our recent announcement not to install any new coal boilers or increase coal capacity are part of the work we’re doing to transition away from coal.’’

Fonterra would like to replace coal immediately but that was not feasible, he said.

‘‘A staggered site-by-site approach, is prudent as we juggle significant considerations. We need to ascertain what is the best replacement for each site and then manage the transition while remaining competitive internationally so as not to adversely affect exports and the country’s economy.’’ Inland Revenue has paid $572 million into taxpayers’ bank accounts in automatic refunds over past two months.

This is the first year that Inland Revenue has returned overpaid tax without being asked for a refund, and Revenue Minister Stuart Nash said the completion of this year’s tax refund season was ‘‘a significant milestone’’.

Confirmation has been sought from Inland Revenue that everyone who was due a tax refund should now have seen that money show up in their bank account.

‘‘The ability of Inland Revenue to run ‘auto calculations’ for the first time reinforces efforts to