Coles working on global deforestation ‘committment’

The retailer it targeting five key “deforestation risks”, including beef.

Coles is “actively working towards” a deforestation commitment with a global standard setter for corporate climate goals.

The retailer has been ratcheting up its deforestation targets over the past year in step with mounting pressure from investors, trading partners, environmental lobby groups and consumers.

A Coles spokeswoman said: “We are actively working towards releasing a formal no deforestation commitment; however, this process is still underway.”

The commitment is with the Science-Based Targets Initiative, a United Kingdom based corporate climate action organisation that provides companies with tools to set greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.

SBTI has validated the net zero plans of hundreds of major companies including Maersk, Tesco and Domino’s Pizza.

The spokeswoman said Coles was however committed to working with “our farmers, suppliers and industry partners to reduce our impact on the environment”.

The retailer released its first “protecting forests” document in June last year detailing the steps it was taking to protect forests across its Coles Own Brand supply chains.

The deforestation document did not mention that the company would be making itself globally accountable for its targets through the SBTI.

Beef was identified in the document as being one of five “deforestation risks” and that it was using verified satellite imagery to confirm its directly sourced cattle were from a property free from Primary Forest loss, from a 2020 baseline.

Last month, Woolworths released its own “no deforestation” policy document, five months after it announced it had set a no-deforestation target across its primary deforestation-linked commodities, which includes fresh beef, “which we aim to apply from 31 December 2025”.