New Zealand fast food outlet Hell Pizza has issued an invitation for climate activist Greta Thunberg to visit in a controversial new campaign calling for her to "go to Hell".
Eighteen-year-old Thunberg made headlines last month after an interview with the Guardian in which she slammed Prime Minister Jacinda Arden for "not doing anything" about climate change.
In a tweet, she pointed out Aotearoa was also one "of the worst performers" when it came to emissions.
Now Hell Pizza CEO Ben Cumming has sent a personal invitation to Thunberg to come and witness the work he says his company is doing to be kinder to the planet.
According to a company statement, it had tried to secure a large billboard with the invitation in Thunberg's hometown of Stockholm, "but the joke was missed" and it was rejected for being too offensive.
Instead, Cumming pointed to some of the company's recent initiatives to reduce waste.
"As well as our carbon neutral deliveries, which are offset through planting forests in the Pacific, we're rolling out new initiatives cementing our focus on further reducing our carbon footprint and minimising waste," he said.
"Looking to the future, we want our 75 stores to be even more clean and green. This includes a national electric fleet of delivery vehicles, renewable energy within stores, and sourcing more than 95 percent of food and materials within Aotearoa."
Cumming also pointed to Hell's collaboration with More Love NZ in 2014 to get pizza boxes accepted for recycling everywhere in NZ, when previously only some councils accepted them.
"Like many other businesses, we know we still have a long way to go on our journey towards a more sustainable world. We hope our story might inspire other businesses to think about their impact on the planet, and we'd love to show Greta what Kiwi businesses are already doing to make the world a better place," he said.
At the time of publishing, Thunberg had not responded to the "personal but public" invitation.
