Responsibly sourced products and ingredients

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).

All Coles Own Brand food and drink products that contain palm oil, sold in Coles supermarkets, support the production of sustainable palm oil through the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification.¹

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 their own supply chain; or
• be able to demonstrate RSPO Certification for each palm oil ingredient that is incorporated into the Coles Own Brand product.²

We require all our Coles Own Brand product labelling to identify palm oil specifically, rather than using the common term ‘blended vegetable oils’.

We are progressively converting Coles Own Brand non-food products³ 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’ credits⁴, 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 groups⁵.

¹ For further information see – A global partnership to make palm oil sustainable – Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

² RSPO Certification can be achieved in relation to different sourcing models including mass-balance, segregated, and identity preserved. As part of our responsible sourcing program, Coles accepts the mass-balance sourcing model. As part of our initial no deforestation ambition, Coles is aiming to transition certain in-scope products containing palm oil to a higher level of certification to support achieving no-deforestation for these products - refer to our Protecting Forests Statement for further information.

³ 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.

⁴ 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.

⁵ 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 single ingredient packet 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 to the programs of Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance¹ or Cocoa Horizons.

¹ www.ra.org

Coles supports the Bonsucro program for the sustainable production of sugar cane. Our Coles Own Brand caster, raw, brown, white and icing single ingredient packet sugars are Bonsucro certified.

All Coles Own Brand timber, pulp and paper products source 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.¹

¹ Excludes Coles Own Brand packaging, Timber, Pulp and Paper used as a component in food and drink products and Coles Own Brand products made from viscose, bamboo, rice, hemp, cellulose, rattan, bark, cork, osier, vegetable parchment or other plant-based fibre other than timber.

The third-party certification and independent supply chain validation systems include:

• Roundtable on Responsible Soy (RTRS)
• International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISSC)
• ProTerra
• Viterra Deforestation-Free Soy
• Louis Dreyfus Deforestation-Free Soy
• Cargill Triple S
• Compliance with the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).