Coles Group has released its annual Sustainability Report, which highlighted the company’s efforts in combating food insecurity and investment in renewable energy solutions.
In an aim to support the growing number of Australians experiencing food insecurity, Coles donated 20 million kilograms of food in the last financial year, the equivalent of 39.8 million meals to people in need.
As well as donating food that might go to waste, Coles runs fundraising campaigns for organisations such as food rescue charity, SecondBite, which it has had a long-term partnership with. This year, Coles’ Winter Appeal raised $1.4 million for the charity, and its Three Million Meals campaign with Bulla raised over $610,000.
The Sustainability Report also showed Coles is on track to achieve its 100 per cent renewable electricity target by June 2025. Electricity generated by renewables including wind and solar accounted for 45 per cent of the retailer’s total grid electricity consumption in FY24, and solar panels have been installed on 100 supermarkets, liquor stores and distribution centres nationally.
Other major sustainability highlights from last financial year featured in the report include:
- Awarded $3.7 million to Aussie producers to help them drive sustainability and innovation as part of the Coles Nurture Fund, which to date has provided more than $36 million to 107 businesses since 2015.
- Increased the percentage of Coles Own Brand packaging that is recyclable to 87.4 per cent, including the release of mandarins and grapes in paper bag packaging.
- 42.5 per cent of women in leadership roles, against a target of 40 per cent.
- Removed 500 million pieces of plastic from Coles Own Brand packaging since 2021 – the equivalent weight of 3,600 cars.
- Increased the percentage of team members who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander to 3.6 per cent, up from 3.5 per cent last financial year, as Coles announced its Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan.
- Contributed $38.5 million in community support to promote health outcomes and build resilience in communities.
- Reduced Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 34.5 per cent since FY208.
- Diverted 86.7 per cent of waste from landfill, achieving the target of 85 per cent one year ahead of schedule.
Coles chief operations and sustainability manager, Matt Swindells, said he was proud of what the Group had achieved over the year, and called out its collaborative approach as key to its results.
“Coles isn’t alone in facing significant environmental and social issues, and our approach is to work collectively with our team members, suppliers and partners to drive more sustainable outcomes,” said Swindells.
“We’re proud to have more women in leadership positions than ever before, and a pay parity gap of less than 1 per cent. These examples are testament to how we’re working hard to make Coles an inclusive workplace where all team members can come to work and feel respected and valued.
“Looking ahead we’re going to continue to integrate sustainability into our business and work in lockstep with our suppliers and other partners to improve environmental and social outcomes.
“We’re also developing a Climate Transition Plan that will bring together our longer-term targets to reduce emissions, address nature-related impacts and drive circularity, and ultimately create a more sustainable future,” he said.
It is important to note that the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has critiqued Coles for not establishing a target to eliminate deforestation from its supply chains by the end of 2025 in its Sustainability Report.
The organisation revealed it had identified 50 examples of deforestation occurring in the last four years on properties linked to the cattle industry, using satellite data and ground-truthing – and the biggest sellers of beef are the supermarkets, Woolworths, Coles, and Aldi.
Both Aldi and Woolworths have committed to stronger action to phase out deforestation linked commodities in products, but Coles did not commit to meet those targets.
Coles’ Sustainability Report was released in tandem with the company’s financial results, in which Coles Group reached a two-year high, reporting an 8.2 per cent rise in earnings to $3.65 billion and a 4.4 per cent rise in revenue to $43.7 billion. Supermarket earnings rose 10.5 per cent to $3.5 billion and profit increased 8.3 per cent to $1.1 billion.
