Coles Group

Sector

Consumer Staples

Headquarters

Melbourne, Australia

Official Website

colesgroup.com.au

Climate Policy Engagement Analysis

Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Coles Group (Coles) has low levels of engagement with climate policy. The company displays largely positive top-line positions on climate change and the energy transition, yet demonstrates limited transparent engagement with specific climate-related regulations.

Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Coles displays limited yet supportive top-line messaging on climate change. The company supported the goals of the Paris Agreement in its 2023 Sustainability Report, published September 2023, while its CEO, Leah Weckert, backed the need for government regulation to respond to climate change, as reported in a December 2023 article by The Australian.

Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Coles demonstrates limited transparent engagement with specific climate-related regulations. The company appeared to broadly support Australia’s Guarantee of Origin Scheme in a February 2023 consultation submission, and also issued support for Australia’s proposed Renewable Electricity Certification scheme in a separate February 2023 consultation submission, noting that it backed “the proposal to allow aggregation from multiple small-scale systems”.

Positioning on Energy Transition: Coles’ engagement with the energy transition appears to be largely confined to top-line statements on the transition of the energy mix. Coles recognized the need to “accelerate the transition to a net zero economy” in its 2023 Sustainability Report. Previous CEO, Steve Cain, also communicated broad support for a “smooth and resilient” energy transition in December 2022 comments to the Australian Financial Review, however it is unclear if this position is aligned with IPCC timelines and advice on delivering 1.5°C warming.

Industry Association Governance: Coles disclosed a list of its industry association memberships in its 2023 Sustainability Report, however it did not disclose an account of its associations’ climate-related positions and engagement activities. Coles is a member of several industry associations that continue to promote a prolonged role for fossil gas in the energy mix, including the Energy Users Association of Australia and the Business Council of Australia.

InfluenceMap collects and assesses evidence of corporate climate policy engagement on a weekly basis, depending on the availability of information from each specific data source (for more information see our methodology). While this analysis flows through to the company's scores each week, the summary above is updated periodically. This summary was last updated in Q2 2024.

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InfluenceMap Score for Climate Policy Engagement

C+

Performance Band

64%

Organization Score

66%

Relationship Score

6%

Engagement Intensity

Primary Evidence

All primary evidence used to inform the analysis of Coles Group can be found in the two tabs below below. In the first tab, hyperlinks in each cell of the matrix provide access to evidence collected on Coles Group's direct policy engagement activities. The second tab provides a record of any links between Coles Group and the Industry Associations stored in the LobbyMap database.

DATA SOURCES
QUERIES
Main Web Site

Main Web Site

Corporate Media

Corporate Media

CDP Responses

CDP Responses

Direct Consultation with Governments

Direct Consultation with Governments

Media Reports

Media Reports

CEO Messaging

CEO Messaging

Financial Disclosures

Financial Disclosures

Communication of Climate Science

1NSNANSNSNSNS

Alignment with IPCC on Climate Action

22NSNSNSNSNS

Supporting the Need for Regulations

0NSNSNSNS1NS

Support of UN Climate Process

1NSNSNSNSNSNS

Transparency on Legislation

-1NA-2NANANANA

Carbon Tax

NSNSNSNSNSNSNS

Emissions Trading

NSNSNSNSNSNSNS

Energy and Resource Efficiency

NSNSNS1NSNSNS

Renewable Energy

NSNSNS1NSNSNS

Energy Transition & Zero Carbon Technologies

0NSNSNSNS0NS

GHG Emission Regulation

NSNSNSNSNSNSNS

Disclosure on Relationships

-1NA-2NANANANA

Land Use

NSNSNSNSNSNSNS