The Australian Conservation Foundation says Coles has become the last of the big three supermarkets to commit to stop bulldozing forest for the beef its uses in its supermarkets – but slowly.

Releasing its 2025 sustainability report on Tuesday, the supermarket said it will stop
sourcing beef linked to deforestation for all the beef it directly sources, up to 85% of its own‐
branded product, by the end of 2025, in accordance with the Science‐based Targets Initiative.

But they will take the partial commitment because of the size of the supermarket industry. But the ACF says the same can’t be said of Hungry Jacks which is yet to commit to a deforestation policy, and McDonalds permits it in its supply chain until 2030.

ACF’s nature and business lead Nathaniel Pelle said part of the reason Coles hasn’t done a 100% commitment is “due to Australia’s flawed traceability system and recalcitrant processors”.


Privately, the supermarkets say Australia’s big meat processors, dominated by
controversial Brazilian giant JBS and US‐based Cargill, are the main barrier to traceability, as
they withhold data. It shows why the Albanese government needs to take steps to ensure public funding of the national traceability system (NLIS) is conditional on the system being transparent