LIC Chief Executive Wayne McNee Elected To Sustainable Business Council Advisory Board

LIC Chief Executive, Wayne McNee, has been elected to the Sustainable Business Council (SBC) advisory board. He joins other senior business leaders elected to advise the SBC and helps its members deliver economic growth for New Zealand through ecological integrity, social progress and supporting the business community in addressing climate change, and environmental and social issues.

LIC has been a member of the SBC since August 2019 and McNee says he’s excited to now be joining its advisory board and championing its vision to stakeholders including New Zealand’s important primary sector.

“I’m passionate about New Zealand, especially our primary sector, and believe we can be world leading in our management of impacts on the environment, and create real consumer and farmer value as a result.

“I support the Council’s vision that by 2050 we are thriving in a zero carbon New Zealand and believe of all the countries in the world, New Zealand has the best chance to achieve this. I’m looking forward to making a meaningful contribution towards delivering on this vision.”

McNee became Chief Executive of LIC in 2013 and champion’s sustainability at the agritech and herd improvement cooperative including supporting significant research programmes to reduce the environmental footprint of dairy farming as well as improve the health and welfare of dairy cows.

When joining SBC, members make a commitment to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and build sustainability into their purchasing decisions. They’re required to introduce annual reporting practices, which outline their progress on environmental, social, governance and economic issues.

McNee says LIC has been elevating initiatives to help dairy farmers improve their environmental footprint and the efficiency of their herds.

“We’ve also introduced internal approaches to further support the wellbeing of our people, reduce water and energy consumption on its sites as well as research into the variability of methane emissions between New Zealand dairy bulls to potentially breed cows from lower methane-emitting bulls. “

LIC is also a member of the Climate Leaders Coalition and is leading a seven-year Resilient Dairy programme into innovative breeding for a sustainable future, with investment and support from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and DairyNZ. The programme of work is investing in new disease management technologies and advancements in genomic science to improve cow productivity, and produce better cows with improved health, wellbeing and environmental resilience.

The other new senior business leaders elected to the SBC with McNee are:

• Alice Andrew, Co-founder and Director, 4Sight
• Marc England, Chief Executive, Genesis
• Peter Simons, Managing Director, DB Breweries
• Carol Ward, Chief Innovation and Sustainability Officer, Zespri

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