Sourcing that is better together

While palm oil is used in many products around the world, unsustainable farming practices in some countries where oil palms are grown can negatively impact the environment, wildlife and local communities. Coles is a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), as well as the Retailers Palm Oil Group (RPOG)¹. All Coles Own Brand food and drink products that contain palm oil, sold in Coles supermarkets, support the production of sustainable palm oil. This means that within the food and drink supply chain for Coles Own Brand products sold in Coles supermarkets, Coles requires  suppliers using palm oil to:

• obtain RSPO Supply Chain Certification for its own supply chain; or
• be able to demonstrate RSPO Certification for each palm oil ingredient that is incorporated into the Coles Own Brand product.

Where palm oil is present in our food and drink products, it is labelled accordingly. Our Palm Oil Policy requires us to identify palm oil specifically instead of using the common term ‘blended vegetable oils’.

We are progressively converting Coles Own Brand non-food products² and more than 90% of these products contain or support the production of sustainable palm oil.

As we work toward transitioning the remaining 10% of non-food products, we are offsetting our impact by purchasing RSPO ‘book and claim’ credits³, which support smallholder palm oil farmers. Smallholder palm oil farmers are small to medium local producers of sustainable palm oil, who operate independently from large-scale plantations and mills. Supporting smallholder farmers not only directly supports local villages and communities, but incentivises environmental protection and restoration initiatives operated by smallholder groups⁴.

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¹ Further information on the Retailers’ Palm Oil Group is available at https://www.rpog.org/.

² Based on the 2022 Annual Communication of Progress (ACOP) reporting period. The Annual Communication of Progress (ACOP) are reports submitted by RSPO members to gauge their progress towards 100% RSPO Certified Sustainable Palm Oil.

³ An RSPO credit is proof that one tonne of certified palm oil was produced by an RSPO-certified company or independent producer, and has entered the global palm oil supply chain. By purchasing credits, buyers encourage the production of certified sustainable palm oil.

⁴ For more information on the RSPO smallholder support fund visit: https://rspo.org/as-a-smallholder/support-fund/.

We use independent certification or verification programs such as Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, Cocoa Horizons and Bonsucro, when sourcing tea, coffee, cocoa and sugar. This gives customers confidence that these commodities have been sourced ethically and more sustainably and help grow the market for independently certified or verified products.

All tea, coffee and cocoa used in Coles Own Brand products, sold in Coles Supermarkets, are required to be independently certified or verified.

From January 2023, all but two of Coles Own Brand products that contain tea, coffee and cocoa have been produced using independently certified/verified ingredients from Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance or Cocoa Horizons programs.

Coles supports the Bonsucro program for the sustainable production of sugar cane. Our Coles Brand white, brown, raw and caster sugar and soft icing mixture are sourced in Australia from our Bonsucro-certified supplier.

The production of all Coles Own Brand timber, pulp and paper products sources material from forest plantations independently certified to the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) or Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) certification schemes, or from post-consumer recycled fibre.

This excludes timber, pulp or paper used as a component of food and drink products, cellulose, viscose and in product packaging. In addition, Coles offers a 100% recycled content and FSC® Certified paper shopping bag. Five of our CUB baby wipe products are also FSC Certified, Australian made and biodegradable.We will continue to support sustainably managed forests and provide information to customers through the application of the relevant logos on our product packaging.

Soy sourced for livestock feed in Australia largely originates from South America and has been associated with deforestation.

In FY23, we engaged with industry and our suppliers to understand the impacts and challenges associated with soy supply chains and began developing a roadmap and policy to progressively address the deforestation risks within livestock feed supply chains.

To meet Coles’ Responsibly Sourced Seafood Requirements, Coles Own Brand farmed seafood products are required to be certified¹ to the following independent third-party standards and certifications.

• Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC);
• Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP); or
• GLOBALG.A.P.

Farmed seafood products assessed against the ASC Chain of Custody (CoC) Standard carry the ASC logo. Farmed seafood products assessed against BAP or GLOBALG.A.P carry the Coles' Responsibly Sourced Seafood (RSS) logo.

The ASC or Coles Responsibly Sourced seafood logo indicates that the product has come from an independently certified farm. More information on these standards can be found on their respective websites.

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¹ Under the Coles Responsibly Sourced Seafood Program, Australian- and New Zealand-farmed bivalves are deemed responsibly sourced due to the low environmental impact of mollusc aquaculture, and are not required to be certified to a third party standard.

To meet Coles’ Responsibly Sourced Seafood Program requirements, Coles Own Brand wild-caught seafood products are required to be:

• Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified; or
• Independently assessed as meeting the Coles Wild Seafood Assessment Framework (Assessment Framework).

Wild-caught seafood products that carry the MSC logo are:

• sourced from fisheries that are assessed and certified by independent, third parties against the MSC Fisheries Standard; and
• assessed against the MSC Chain of Custody Standard to ensure that these products are from MSC certified fisheries and are traceable and separated from non-certified products.

More about the MSC can be found on its FAQ page.

Coles’ Assessment Framework was developed in collaboration with MRAG Asia Pacific (MRAG AP), an independent fisheries and aquatic resource consulting company. The program builds on the results of supply risk assessments for Coles Own Brand and deli seafood products carried out by WWF-Australia during 2011-2015.

The criteria for the assessment are based on the latest version of the MSC Fisheries Standard (Version 2.01) and will be updated in line with the future versions of the Fishery Standard.

In partnership with fisheries management authorities, all assessments are reviewed on an annual basis to reflect the most up-to-date knowledge. This annual review helps Coles to improve fisheries management and sustainability over time.

The Assessment Framework is structured around three core principles,

Principle 1: Sustainable target fish stocks: A fishery must be conducted in a manner that does not lead to over-fishing or depletion of the exploited populations and, for those populations that are depleted, the fishery must be conducted in a manner that demonstrably leads to their recovery.

Principle 2: Environmental impact of fishing: Fishing operations should allow for the maintenance of the structure, productivity, function and diversity of the ecosystem (including habitat and associated dependent and ecologically related species) on which the fishery depends.

Principle 3: Effective management: The fishery is subject to an effective management system that respects local, national and international laws and standards and incorporates institutional and operational frameworks that require use of the resource to be responsible and sustainable.

Wild-caught seafood products assessed against the Coles Assessment Framework are eligible to carry the Coles' Responsibly Sourced Seafood logo.

For more information, please contact responsiblesourcing@coles.com.au

Responsibly sourced tuna

Tuna is among the world’s most popular fish and therefore among the most commercially valuable. With the high demand for tuna, many stocks are exploited to full capacity or overfished¹. Coles Own Brand canned Skipjack and Yellowfin tuna are responsibly sourced which means the following conditions are met:

• Fish stocks: The fish stock where Coles Own Brand Skipjack and Yellowfin tuna are caught have been independently assessed as part of our Coles Responsibly Sourced Seafood Program.
• Reduced by-catch: Coles Own Brand Skipjack and Yellowfin tuna are caught without the use of fish aggregating devices (FADs), which are essentially rafts that attract fish. This results in less by-catch.
• Traceability: Coles Own Brand Skipjack and Yellowfin canned tuna can be traced back to the approved fishing boat that caught the tuna as well as the boat that transported it to the cannery.
• Independent observers: Boats that catch Coles Own Brand Skipjack and Yellowfin tuna have independent observers on board to ensure robust data is available to help manage the fishery and monitor compliance with conservation measures specified by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC). The requirement to have independent observers (temporarily suspended due to COVID-19) was reinstated on 1 January 2023.

Industry engagement

We acknowledge the potential impacts seafood production can have on the environment, and work collaboratively with our suppliers, NGOs, certification bodies and subject matter experts to look for opportunities to further improve our Coles Responsibly Sourced Seafood Program based on latest science and information.

Human Rights

We acknowledge that protecting human rights in supply chains is a global issue and we understand the important role we have in safeguarding human rights within our complex supply chains. Detailed information regarding our Ethical Sourcing Program is available here.

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¹ https://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/tuna <Accessed 8 March 2023>