Coles devotes to going deforestation-free
After a year-long campaign to take deforestation off the shelves of our grocery stores, Coles is the final significant Australian supermarket to dedicate to going deforestation-free.
Today Coles revealed that it will only source deforestation-free beef and other products by the end of 2025
This follows months of public pressure versus the supermarket titan, which saw:
- Over 4, 400 Greenpeace supporters email the Coles chief executive officer requiring they commit to zero deforestation.
- Satirical brochure ads which laid out Coles’ obligation to address logging in its supply chain.
- A demo at the Coles AGM , with allies from The Wilderness Society and Australia Conservation Structure.
© Greenpeace/ Toby Davidson
This commitment from Coles complies with in the course of Woolworths and ALDI, who made deforestation-free dedications earlier in 2024 Our campaign likewise moved McDonald’s to make a comparable commitment.
In Queensland, approximately 300, 000 hectares of forest and bushland is bulldozed just for field conversion each and every single year. Most of this is for beef. With all 3 major supermarkets currently devoted to getting rid of logging from their supply chains, this will certainly see a massive change in the deforestation and land monitoring practices of the Australian beef industry.
However the fight for our forests is far from over, as Coles’ report highlights a glaring industry-wide blindspot. Major beef buyers like Coles don’t have accessibility to full supply chain traceability for cattle, implying they just keep track of for logging on the last building prior to the abattoir– probably a barnyard which could already be identified deforestation-free– rather than its whole life process.
If these firms can rule logging out of their beef supply chains, numerous indigenous pets will be conserved.
— Gemma Plesman, Elder Advocate at Greenpeace Australia Pacific
Deforestation-free beef right throughout business supply chains will certainly have a significant effect on Australian forests and wildlife. Annually, 100 million animals are killed , harmed or displaced in NSW and QLD alone as a result of logging– and this is primarily being driven by beef manufacturing.
Endangered varieties that rely on healthy forests for habitat, like the koala and better glider, currently have a far better opportunity of survival– and this is because of the hundreds of Australians who withstood money grubbing companies to demand they quit damaging our woodlands.
Our job to finish logging does not end today. This year, we’ll be holding every one of these companies to account and ensuring they support their deforestation-free dedications and ensure they are able to map cattle right through their life-cycle– from farm to supermarket rack.
We’ll likewise proceed lobbying the Federal Federal government to introduce strong nature defense regulations at home in Australia, along with mobilising our neighborhood of nature fans to stand up against deforestation in the largest rain forest in the world: the Amazon.