SYDNEY, Wednesday 28 August 2024 — Greenpeace Australia Pacific has congratulated Woolworths for today’s announcement that it will source only deforestation-free products in its supermarkets, heralded as a significant step towards addressing biodiversity decline.
In its annual report released today, Woolworths announced a target of deforestation-free by 2025, as required by the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) to which it is a signatory. The SBTi aims to align corporate business plans with the Paris climate agreement.
This major policy shift follows a similar move by Aldi earlier this year, who went one step further by ruling out the destruction of all ecosystems including native bushland (“conversion-free”), not just forests. Coles is now looking increasingly isolated as Australia’s only major supermarket without a strong deforestation-free policy.
Gemma Plesman, Senior Campaigner at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said Woolworths’ commitment should be applauded, but the implementation of the plan was now crucial.
“Woolworths’ deforestation-free commitment is a big and significant step towards addressing the destruction of our forests and native wildlife. Australia has one of the world’s worst rates of deforestation, killing or harming about 100 million native animals every year and fuelling climate change.
“The bulldozing and destruction of our forests is driven primarily by beef cattle production. As one of Australia’s biggest buyers of beef, Woolworths can make a considerable difference in helping end this destructive practice and set an example for others to follow suit.
“Woolies’ commitment must now be met with a strong implementation plan that includes tracing livestock and agricultural products from farms to supermarket shelves. This will require shared advocacy with NGOs to ensure the Federal Government establishes a national deforestation-free traceability system to provide the granular level of transparent and trusted data needed.
“Unfortunately Coles gets a big thumbs down on deforestation, lagging so far behind its competitors. We know that shoppers actively consider sustainability when purchasing — and when it comes to nature protection, they now have a clear choice at the supermarket shelves.”
Greenpeace is calling on Australia’s biggest beef buyers to publicly aim for, and achieve, conversion and deforestation-free supply chains by 2025, using global best practice definitions. This includes protecting important regenerated forest and threatened species habitat.
—ENDS—
High res images and footage of recent deforestation can be found here
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Kate O’Callaghan on 0406 231 892 or kate.ocallaghan@greenpeace.org
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