Ethical dairy investment fund Southern Pastures, owner of Lewis Road Creamery, has been short-listed for The World Sustainability Awards.

Southern Pastures is a finalist in the Sustainability Excellence Award category. The shortlist across all 11 categories features 80 best in class initiatives, leaders and businesses from around the world.

“We are both proud and humbled to be amongst a line-up of extremely impressive leaders, projects and organisations around the world,” says Lynette Maan, Southern Pastures and Lewis Road Creamery Marketing Director. “As far as we’re aware, we’re the first company from Aotearoa New Zealand to make the shortlist. That’s down to the authentic story we’re able to share about our on-farm sustainability practices, our rigorous independent audit process, all the way through to the 10 Star butter we have on shelf in NZ, Singapore, and the US.”

The judging panel is made up of Chief Sustainability Officers from Walgreens Boots, Colgate Palmolive, AT&T, PepsiCo, Schneider Electric, Telus, CBRE, Heineken, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Anheuser-Busch InBev, and Societe Generale, among others.

Southern Pastures owns over 16,400 acres of farmland and produces milk under its own 10 Star Certified Values program. The independently audited standard covers grass-fed, free-range, climate-change mitigation, human welfare, animal welfare, and sustainability requirements. Southern Pastures does not, for example, allow PKE to be fed to its cows nor does it permit phosphate from Western Sahara to be used on its farms.

Southern Pastures’ milk produced under the 10 Star standard has been pivotal to the success of the Lewis Road Creamery grass-fed butter sold by Whole Foods and other high-end grocery stores across the United States.

Last year’s winners included a mix of smaller innovative organisations and also major global brands such as Hilton, Siemens, Walgreens Boots, Mondelez, Deutsche Post. Awards judge Trudy Slagle, Senior Executive Environmental Social Governance Administration at Lamb Weston commented on the calibre of the shortlist:

"The entries I have reviewed exemplify what it means to be committed to sustainability. While aspirational goals are great, and necessary, it’s inspiring to learn about the real work occurring across these categories, delivering results on issues that matter most,” she says.

Other World Sustainability Awards 2022 finalists include Electrolux, Diageo, Bayer, Schneider Electric and AIA Group, among a list of global businesses who have undertaken significant sustainable changes.

Winners will be crowned on 13 October 2022 in a live ceremony at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof, Munich following the World Sustainability Congress 2022. The Congress will connect global leaders as they map out how to reach the big climate goals of 2030.

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