Woolworths Group & Their Sustainability Achievements
Whilst most Australians have visited a Woolworths supermarket in the past month, fewer are aware that the company behind those supermarkets is one of Australia’s most comprehensive Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporters, and has been quietly building a sustainability program of substance for more than a decade.
With the completion of Woolworths Group’s five-year Sustainability Plan 2025 and the release of its 2025 Sustainability Report, we wanted to assess what the company has achieved.
Climate Journey
For most large companies, climate disclosures are dominated by Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions i.e. the emissions from a company’s own operations and the electricity it buys. For Woolworths, the headline achievement is signifant given their expansive footprint.
At the end of 2025, Woolworths Group reached 100% renewable electricity across all its Australian and New Zealand operations, that is, every supermarket, distribution centre, BIG W store and support office. This goal was first set in 2020 and was achieved well ahead of the global RE100 target of 2030. More than two-thirds of that electricity comes from new renewable infrastructure such as wind farms, solar installations and battery projects that Woolworths helped bring to life, adding capacity to national grids rather than simply purchasing credits from existing projects.
The emissions impact is large. The transition to 100% renewables is projected to deliver a reduction of more than 74% in operational emissions, moving Woolworths substantially closer to its target of an 80% reduction in absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by FY30 from a FY23 baseline. The company also operates more than 320 on-site solar systems, apparently one of the largest commercial solar networks in Australian retail, which is generating enough electricity to power more than 17,000 homes.
Scope 1 and 2 emissions have been falling consistently over several years. In FY24, total Scope 1 emissions were 463,027 tCO₂e, which is down 4% on the prior year and down 6.5% since FY22. Location-based Scope 2 emissions fell 17% over the same period.
Scope 3 and its Difficulties
In Scope 3 reporting, the landscape is more complex, and we believe Woolworths deserves credit for being transparent about it.
Scope 3 emissions (indirect emissions across the entire value chain, including suppliers, farmers, transport partners and customers) grew from 29.7 million tCO₂e in FY23 to 34 million tCO₂e in FY24. That figure dwarfs Woolworths’ direct operational emissions by a factor of roughly 20 to one. It is, by a considerable distance, the most material part of the company’s carbon footprint.
Some of this increase reflects improved measurement — Woolworths now reports across 12 of the 15 Scope 3 categories defined by the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, and better data collection naturally produces larger numbers. But the underlying challenge continues: Scope 3 emissions in a food retail business are dominated by agricultural production, which is extremely difficult to reduce quickly, and requires collective action across thousands of farmers, suppliers and logistics partners rather than decisions that sit within the company’s own control.
Our View — On Scope 3 and the Science Based Targets Initiative
The growth in Woolworths’ Scope 3 figure is worth understanding in context. It likely reflects a combination of improved measurement across more supply chain categories and the genuine complexity of agricultural emissions that sit outside any retailer’s direct control.
What matters more is what Woolworths has committed to doing about it. Their Scope 3 targets are independently validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) (the global standard for corporate climate commitments, established by the United Nations Global Compact, CDP, the World Resources Institute and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature). An SBTi-validated target is a scientifically credible reduction pathway with independent verification behind it. Woolworths has committed to reducing absolute Scope 3 energy and industrial emissions by 55% by FY33 from a FY23 base year, and this is a long-dated target that reflects the reality of what supply chain decarbonisation actually requires.
In our view, that kind of measured honesty, whilst also backed by a validated framework, is more credible than an aggressive near-term commitment that cannot be delivered. The supply chain emissions challenge is genuinely hard for most companies.
Looking ahead over the next three years, Woolworths is likely to move from target-setting to active supplier engagement at scale and working with its network of over 16,000 direct suppliers to build Scope 3 measurement capability and progress toward shared reduction pathways. The SBTi validation gives that work a credible framework. The great unknown is whether the food and agricultural supply chain and its inbed complexity, geographic spread and climate vulnerabilities can move fast enough.
The Broader ESG Picture
Woolworths’ ESG story extends well beyond emissions, and several of the social metrics are equally successful.
Over the five years to 2025, Woolworths directly invested more than $480 million into community programs and helped provide over 165 million meals to Australians in need through food relief partners. The company has removed more than 20,000 tonnes of virgin plastic from its own brand products since 2018, and diverted 84% of its food waste from landfill — with a target to repurpose more than 90% of food surplus by FY30.
On modern slavery and human rights, Woolworths has been ranked number one retailer globally in the 2023 Corporate Human Rights Benchmark and ranked first out of 45 global companies in the KnowTheChain Food and Beverage Benchmark in both 2023 and 2025. This recognition reflects eight years of operating a formal Human Rights Program across a supply chain that includes over 16,000 direct suppliers across multiple geographies which is an undertaking of genuine scale and complexity.
The product health story is also meaningful. Woolworths has removed more than 2,100 tonnes of salt, sugar and saturated fat from its own brand products over the plan period creating a direct intervention in the health outcomes of millions of Australian households.
What Makes This Work = Company-Wide Enablement
One aspect that stands out to us in Woolworths’ sustainability story is the evidence of genuine company-wide integration. A sustainability plan that lives only in a boardroom presentation or a head office document is not a sustainability plan, it is a communications exercise.
Woolworths employs more than 190,000 people. For a program of this breadth to produce the results it has (consistent emissions reductions, measurable food waste diversion, supply chain human rights improvements) it requires that sustainability be understood and enacted at every level of the business. The evidence in the data suggests that integration is genuine, not cosmetic. That is harder to achieve than almost anything else on the sustainability agenda, and it is worth recognising.
Where More Work Is Needed
Woolworths is transparent about its gaps.
Despite achieving Workplace Gender Equity recognition for three consecutive years, the company acknowledges it has more work to do, particularly in supporting and retaining Indigenous team members. The gender pay gap at total remuneration level, while narrower than many Australian companies, has not yet closed, and Woolworths’ own employer statement on gender pay gap progress acknowledges this directly.
The Scope 3 challenge is real and unresolved. And the soft plastics recycling setback (remember: where the national scheme collapsed in 2023 and had to be rebuilt) is a stark reminder that even well-resourced companies cannot always control the infrastructure their sustainability commitments depend on.
What the Next Three Years May Look Like
With the 2025 Sustainability Plan complete, Woolworths is now operating under its 2030 plan. The targets are more ambitious, including 80% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions, 55% reduction in Scope 3 energy and industrial emissions, 90% food surplus repurposed, 30% recycled content in own brand packaging. The SBTi validation of those climate targets provides a credible framework. Over the next three years, the likely focus will shift from operational decarbonisation (largely achieved through renewable electricity) toward supply chain engagement, nature-positive sourcing, and the harder social metrics around Indigenous employment and supply chain labour standards.
For a company of this size and visibility, the sustainability program will increasingly be tested not just by what Woolworths itself does, but by what it demands of and enables in others.
Sources
- Woolworths Group, 2025 Sustainability Report, woolworthsgroup.com.au
- Woolworths Group, 2025 Annual Report, woolworthsgroup.com.au
- Woolworths Group, 2025 Modern Slavery Statement, woolworthsgroup.com.au
- Woolworths Group, 2025 Sustainability Data Pack, woolworthsgroup.com.au
- Woolworths Group Newsroom, Woolworths Group Now Powering Its Business with 100% Renewable Electricity, 19 February 2026, woolworthsgroup.com.au
- Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), Woolworths Leads with Global First, cefc.com.au
- Sustainability Magazine, Woolworths Group: Advancing Nutrition, Circularity and Energy, March 2026, sustainabilitymag.com
- KnowTheChain, Food and Beverage Benchmark 2025, knowthechain.org
- Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, 2023 Results, corporatebenchmark.org
- Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), Woolworths Group Target Validation, sciencebasedtargets.org
- Climate Action 100+, Woolworths Group Ltd Company Assessment, climateaction100.org
- Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, ghgprotocol.org
Anabranch ESG Advisory provides independent advice on ESG strategy, climate disclosure, and sustainability reporting. The information in this article is general in nature and does not constitute legal or financial advice. All data cited is sourced from Woolworths Group’s publicly available sustainability reporting materials.
