Woolworths Group

Stakeholder engagement
Woolworths Group discloses how it engages with stakeholders, the issues raised, which cover areas such as nature, nutrition, and social aspects, and some outcomes of stakeholder engagement activities. It could however provide more specific examples of outcomes from engaging with each stakeholder group.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
Woolworths Group discloses its process for identifying and prioritising its most relevant sustainability impacts as well as the outcome of this process, in relation to its sustainability strategy.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
The company discloses its target to be 100% deforestation-free across its supply chains by 2025. Also, it discloses that 86% and 62% of its soy and palm oil is deforestation free, respectively.

GHG emissions
Woolworths Group discloses its target to reduce by 63% its absolute scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 from its 2015 baseline. Furthermore, the company discloses its target to reduce by 19% its absolute scope 3 GHG emissions by 2030 from its 2015 baseline. All these targets are aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Resource exploitation and circularity performance
The company discloses activities to improve soil health or agrobiodiversity in its production or sourcing practices.

Solid and air pollution
The company demonstrates commitment, partakes in activities and discloses quantitative data related to plastic use reduction and transitioning towards sustainable packaging.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
Woolworths Group is committed to zero tolerance for acts of violence, threats, intimidation or judicial harassment committed against land and environmental rights defenders.

Act ethically
The company has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption and includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships. Additionally, it has a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to raise concerns and complaints regarding bribery and corruption.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has a publicly available policy statement in which it commits to respecting the health and safety of workers and expects its business relationships to do so. Additionally, it discloses quantitative information on the health and safety of its workers and how it monitors the health and safety performance of its business relationships. Furthermore, the company discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements. It also describes how it works to support the payment of a living wage by its suppliers.

Moreover, the company discloses the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category. It has 57.14% women on the board, publicly commits to gender equality and women’s empowerment and discloses one time-bound target on the latter.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights and the ILO core labour rights and expects its suppliers to do so. Moreover, it describes the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations. It also describes its process for assessing its human rights risks and discloses what it considers to be its salient human rights issues.

Furthermore, it has a human rights grievance mechanism accessible to all workers and all external stakeholders who may be adversely impacted by the company. The company also engages with stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities and provides an example of case study related to remediation of health and safety issues, working hours and wages in China.

Lobbying
Woolworths Group currently discloses some trade associations it belongs to but it has the opportunity to disclose a comprehensive list for all the jurisdictions it operates in. In addition to reviewing its key industry association memberships to ensure they align with its policy interests, the company can also enhance its process by providing a clear and detailed framework for assessing such alignment with its sustainability targets as well as highlight (potential) conflict between the lobbying activities of its trade associations and its sustainability objectives.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
The company discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including nutrition. However, it has an opportunity to establish group-wide targets for the most material parts of its value chain. Also, while it reports consistently against some targets, it could report consistently against all its targets. Additionally, the company could link performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues at group level. Lastly, it could improve its performance by disclosing whether its highest governance body has expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
No evidence was found regarding the company’s efforts to avoid ecosystem conversion, including deforestation, or promote restoration. The company has an opportunity to develop a strategy and publicly report on specific, time-bound targets.

GHG emissions
The company should report progress against its targets to reduce its scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions. Crucially, the company needs to reduce its scope 1,2 and 3 emissions.

Impact and dependencies assessment
The company has an opportunity to disclose assessments of its impacts on nature, including biodiversity, within its own operations and in its supply chain. It also has the opportunity to disclose its dependencies on nature within its own operations and upstream business relationships.

Invasive species
The company has not identified any activities that could lead to the introduction of invasive alien species in its own operations.

Key areas and species
The company has an opportunity to disclose locations within or adjacent to areas important for biodiversity, both in its own operations and its supplier locations. It could also disclose existing species populations existing in or adjacent to both its own and its suppliers’ locations, as well as the conservation status of species identified at its own sites according to national and international lists.

Resource exploitation and circularity performance
No evidence was found regarding the company’s efforts to work towards a circular economy or which organisms it exploits. The company has an opportunity to develop a strategy and publicly report on specific, time-bound targets.

Solid and air pollution
The company should commit to avoid developing or marketing new chemicals or products with SVHC (substance of very high concern) properties, as well as work on reducing the production of hazardous substances and waste. While it discloses plastic waste diverted from landfill in its Australian and New Zealand operations, it has an opportunity to report on the amount of plastic waste generated, and proportions directed from or to disposal, at group level. The company could also report on air quality parameters of emissions of harmful air pollutants and disclose time-bound targets to reduce air pollutants across the most material parts of its value chain.

Water
The company does not disclose relevant information related to water, in its operations or supply chains.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
The company does not show if it is committed to respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights or land rights of local communities.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
The company has an opportunity to commit to respecting local communities’ right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and to zero tolerance for acts of violence, threats, intimidation or judicial harassment committed against land and environmental rights defenders. Moreover, it should track its actual or potential negative impacts on the health of local communities.

Act ethically
The company could describe its process for identifying bribery and corruption risks and impacts in specific locations or activities related to its own operations. Furthermore, the company could consider establishing a policy that clearly outlines its approach to lobbying and political engagement. This policy should be publicly available, and it should explicitly state that the company does not make any political contributions. Additionally, the company could disclose its expenditures on lobbying activities. Lastly, it could also require third-party lobbyists to adhere to its lobbying and political engagement policy.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has an opportunity to disclose either a time-bound target for paying all workers a living wage or demonstrate it has achieved paying all workers a living wage. Additionally, the company has an opportunity to disclose its methodology for determining a living wage in the regions where it operates. Moreover, the company can disclose the ratio of basic salary and remuneration between women and men in its direct operations workforce, categorized by employee category and significant locations of operation.