Zespri Launches Updated Sustainability Targets and Climate Transition Plan

Zespri has launched updated sustainability targets as part of its 2035 strategy, supporting the kiwifruit marketer’s ambition to become the world’s healthiest fruit brand. 

The targets were announced at the kiwifruit industry’s Momentum 2026 Conference in Mount Maunganui, attended by more than 600 growers, shareholders, industry and post-harvest leaders, global supply-chain partners and customers. 

Zespri Executive Officer – Sustainability, Carolyn Mortland says Zespri’s 2035  strategy depends on a healthy environment, with Zespri choosing to prioritise climate and packaging work as part of the company’s strategic focus on building brand-led demand, transforming global supply and creating the portfolio of the future.

“In developing our 2035 strategy, we’ve looked at how our approach to sustainability will help build the world’s healthiest fruit brand, including meeting our customers’ and consumers’ evolving expectations.

“We’ve got a strong platform to work from given the progress we’ve made towards the targets we set in 2020. 

“While we didn’t reach all those targets, we delivered a climate strategy and adaptation plan, completed carbon-neutral orchard trials, biofuel trials and a green shipping corridor feasibility study, implemented fully-certified home compostable fruit labels and lifted our use of recycled material so that more than 90% of our Zespri branded transport packaging across all global markets is made from recyclable material.

“The updated targets we’ve set are about focusing our activity on the areas that we believe will help unlock a low-emissions climate-resilient future in what are more challenging conditions, and signal our long-term ambition for Zespri to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

“Achieving net zero requires sustained action across our industry and supply chain and we intend on doing this in stages over time, working collaboratively with our partners. This includes advocating for the infrastructure and system changes needed to enable low emissions solutions, and supporting the development and scaling of practical, economically viable options across our value chain,” says Ms Mortland.

Zespri today also released its Climate Change Transition Plan, outlining the following three short-term climate targets:

• A 42% reduction in Zespri’s scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030, from a 2024 base year. 
  This covers direct emissions from Zespri, including vehicles and buildings. 
• A 30% reduction in shipping emissions per tray equivalent from New Zealand by 2030, from a 2022 base year.
  Shipping is Zespri’s largest single emissions source and with fruit volumes increasing, this target covers finding reductions through efficiency, collaboration and fuel transition. 
• An Orchard Climate Innovation Mission.  
  This supports looking at reductions through orchard innovation – testing and demonstrating practical orchard-level emissions reductions and carbon removals techniques to support growers over time.

Climate change is increasingly impacting orchards and supply chains, with more frequent and severe weather events occurring in New Zealand and globally. 

“These are having a real impact on growers, infrastructure and logistics, and we’re seeing these events shape the rules of trade through new regulation and reporting requirements. 

“That’s matched by rising customer expectations for suppliers to set rigorous climate targets, and consumers who want to buy from brands which support the environment. It’s critical we’re meeting that challenge. 

“Our Climate Change Transition Plan highlights our focus on delivering climate‑resilient cultivars, better climate insights, and knowledge-sharing to help future‑proof supply and support more resilient orchards.

Packaging also remains a major priority for Zespri, with two environmental packaging targets announced:

• By 2030, targeting 90% of packaging to be recyclable in practice, reusable or compostable.
  This target replaces Zespri’s earlier 100% by 2025 target, recognising real world recycling infrastructure constraints while still driving progress.  
• By 2030, targeting having 30% recycled content in plastic packaging.
  This is a continuation of Zespri’s existing target, and aims to support circularity and help drive demand for packaging collection and recycling. This will be calculated globally as the total weight of recycled plastic used as a percentage of total plastic weight used.

Ms Mortland confirmed there was a focus on looking at how Zespri reduces the environmental impact of our packaging which is critical to supporting the quality of kiwifruit all the way to customers and consumers around the world.

“We’ve made important progress, including the rollout of our world-first 100% home compostable fruit label, ensuring over 95% of Zespri branded packaging in Korea is now recyclable and there is more than 50% of recycled content within our US Zespri branded plastic consumer packs. 

“These packaging targets reflect the practical realities we’ve seen in recent years, future regulation, and will support us in meeting customer and consumer expectations.”

“We are taking action on sustainability now so we can continue to deliver high-quality great-tasting Zespri Kiwifruit to our markets around the world, and maximise value for our growers and shareholders,” says Ms Mortland.

Zespri’s Climate Change Transition Plan can be found here: https://www.zespri.com/content/dam/zespri/nz/sustainability/Zespri-Climate-Change-Transition-Plan.pdf

ABOUT ZESPRI
Zespri is 100 percent owned by current and former kiwifruit growers and has a global team of 900+ based in Mount Maunganui and throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas. Our purpose is to help people, communities and the environment thrive through the goodness of kiwifruit, and we work with 2,800 growers in New Zealand and 1,500 growers offshore to provide consumers with fresh, healthy and great-tasting Zespri Green, Zespri RubyRed and SunGold Kiwifruit. In 2024/25, we supplied 220.9 million trays (more than 795,000 tonnes) of kiwifruit to consumers in more than 50 markets, and recorded global operating revenue of NZ$5.14 billion. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The full scope of and assumptions for Zespri’s new climate targets can be found in Zespri’s Climate Change Transition Plan.  

The scope of Zespri’s new packaging targets covers Zespri branded packaging across consumer packs and transport packs, as well as all Zespri-branded fruit labels, from postharvest operations, 3PLs through to Zespri direct customers. 

Transport packaging includes all Zespri transport packaging products and components used for the containment, protection, handling, delivery, storage, transport and presentation of Zespri kiwifruit in all of Zespri’s markets worldwide (this includes plastic pallet strapping, but excludes shipping pallets, corner boards and interconnecting strips).

Consumer packaging includes all Zespri branded consumer-facing kiwifruit packaging products and components (including spifes) used by Zespri or its direct customers in Zespri’s primary markets, which are identified as: Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the United States.