Coles Finest Certified Carbon Neutral range

Coles Finest Certified Carbon Neutral products are a great example of Coles working collaboratively with suppliers to help achieve better sustainability outcomes. Together, we are reducing the carbon footprint of these products through best practice farming. Coles will offset remaining emissions including those produced in the production and transport of these products from farm to shelf with 100% Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs).

Graze Delatite station farmers in paddock with ute

Coles former CEO Steven Cain said,

“When we announced our Sustainability Strategy just over a year ago, we said we’d work with all our stakeholders to achieve our Together to Zero emissions ambitions."

All Coles Finest Carbon Neutral products are independently certified to the Australian Government’s Climate Active Carbon Neutral Standard for Products & Services. This certification is a voluntary standard to manage greenhouse gas emissions and to achieve carbon neutrality.

We’ve partnered with a select group of Australian farmers, who are committed to reducing their carbon footprint through:

Best practice farming, which focuses on herd efficiency, resulting in a lower carbon footprint;
Maximising growth rates to deliver an efficient high-quality eating product; and
Investing in emission reduction strategies including the planting of trees, renewable energy, feed management strategies and biodiversity improvements.

What is Carbon Neutral?

Carbon neutral means taking action to reduce and remove as much carbon from the atmosphere as an organisation puts into it. This means that the greenhouse gas emissions to produce our certified carbon neutral products have no net negative impact on the climate.

Coles achieved carbon neutral product certification through Climate Active by completing a rigorous process of demonstrating that there are net zero emissions to produce all Coles Finest Carbon Neutral products.

Meeting Climate Active's certification is an ongoing 6-step process:

Getting and staying certified chart with 6 steps — *For more information, please read the Coles Climate Active Public Disclosure Statements* *here*.

Frequently asked questions

Climate Active is an ongoing partnership between the Australian Government and Australian businesses to drive voluntary climate action. The brand represents Australia’s collective effort to measure, reduce, and offset carbon emissions to lessen our negative impact on the environment.

The Climate Active initiative and Climate Active Carbon Neutral Standard supports and guides businesses as they account for and reduce carbon emissions. The Climate Active logo helps the community take action by making it easier to identify and choose brands that are making a real difference. It’s about making good decisions today, for a more sustainable tomorrow.

For further information, please visit their website: https://www.climateactive.org.au/
The carbon account is a measure of the carbon dioxide equivalent emissions attributable to the Coles Finest Certified Carbon Neutral range. This can also be known as a carbon footprint or emissions inventory. This is determined through a 6-step process:

Step 1: Enter and maintain a licence agreement with Climate Active.

Step 2: Calculate the greenhouse gas emissions produced to make the Coles Finest Certified Carbon Neutral Range from farm to store

Step 3: Develop an emissions reduction strategy to reduce emissions where possible in the supply chain

Step 4: Purchase carbon credits to offset any remaining emissions in the supply chain

Step 5: Arrange independet validation of the carbon neutral claim by an independent third party

Step 6: Publish a public disclosure statement to summarise the carbon neutral claim
The certification process with Climate Active is rigorous and requires annual independent third-party validation to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the carbon calculations. The Coles Finest Certified Carbon Neutral ranges also must be subject to an additional independent validation (i.e. audit or verification) by an environmental auditor or carbon consultant at least once every three years.
Offset units are used to compensate for emissions a business produces, to help reduce their carbon footprint. Offset units are generated by projects that reduce, remove or capture emissions from the atmosphere such as reforestation, renewable energy or energy efficiency.

For further information, please visit the Climate Active website: https://www.climateactive.org.au/what-climate-active/carbon-offsets

Shop our Carbon Neutral Beef

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Shop our Carbon Neutral Pork

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About our Coles Finest Carbon Neutral range

Certified Carbon Neutral Pork

Today we're located in Albany in the Great Southern of Western Australia.

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This area is good for pig farming because of the climate

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it's a nice cool climate and the pigs tend to love that.

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To be free range down here we like to have

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pigs in their natural habitat to be able to dig

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and make little nests in the straw

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and just to rummage around.

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Here on the farm we are totally off the grid.

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Solar gives us everything we need to run the pigs.

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We also do a crop management plan, every two years

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we rotate the pigs through

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and turn their land back to pasture

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and crop it for two years to remove their nutrients.

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With the pig bedding

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the spent bedding, we use it on the farm

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as a fertiliser we spread through the crops.

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This means we don't have to use artificial fertilisers.

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Soy is a huge contributor to emissions

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and we've worked really hard to reduce the use of soy

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in our feed.

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After launching Carbon Neutral Beef

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we knew that we wanted to expand the range

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and our free range farms here were the ideal opportunity

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to explore Carbon Neutral Pork.

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We worked with Integrity Ag to measure the emissions

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throughout the supply chain, from the farm,

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right through to the shelf.

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This range is certified Carbon Neutral

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by Climate Active, a government-backed program.

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It was important that the program came together

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with the right farming system,

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more importantly with the right people.

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Milne AgriGroup are at the forefront of welfare

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and sustainability.

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This makes them the perfect fit for Coles to work with

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on this program.

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We've partnered with Coles for the last 10 years

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and this latest project is a real highlight

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for Milne AgriGroup and its farming partners.

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I'm really proud of the model that we've developed here

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and how it has evolved

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and really excited now that we have this focus on

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sustainability, environmental management and welfare.

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Over the last 12 months, Coles and the Milne AgriGroup

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together with the farmers,

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have put in an enormous amount of effort

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to bring this to life.

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To finally bring it to a stage that we can now launch

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Coles Finest Carbon Neutral Pork.

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The most satisfying part of this journey

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has been working with the producers,

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the farmers, on their sustainability

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and being able to then showcase that to our Coles customers.

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Sustainability is important to me

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to try and leave the land in a better place

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than what we started with

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and to leave something for my kids for the future.

English (United Kingdom)

Shop our Carbon Neutral Pork

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Coles has partnered with WA Free Range Pork Supplier, Milne AgriGroup, to produce the Coles Finest Certified Carbon Neutral Pork range that is from farms with RSPCA Approved certification.

The range will showcase 8 delicious cuts of carbon neutral pork including schnitzels, steaks, ribs and a delicious porchetta.

As with our Coles Finest Certified Carbon Neutral Beef, the range is certified carbon neutral, from farm to shelf, to the Climate Active Carbon Neutral Standard for Products & Services, an Australian Government initiative.

Coles and Milne AgriGroup completed an annual carbon footprint assessment capture the total emissions from farm to shelf. During this review, it was identified that Milne farms produce lower emission products than the Australian industry average*

*Figure based on average emissions per kilogram of live weight produced.

Meet David, Milne Agrigroup General Manager

Over the past 10 years Milne AgriGroup have been supplying into the Coles free range pork program.

Alongside launching the Coles Finest Certified Carbon Neutral Pork range, Milne Agrigroup’s free range pork farms are certified by the RSPCA Approved Farming Scheme and are APIQ accredited for free-range.

This means the farms are managed in accordance with the RSPCA Approved Standard for Pigs (Outdoor), which promotes higher welfare farming practices.

Milne General Manager David Plant said the range was a true reflection of the shared commitment towards a more sustainable future and the combined efforts through the partnership with Coles.

“We are always looking at ways to be more sustainable. That’s why across the Milne Farms we’ve invested in renewable energy, like solar panels, making all our farms completely off the grid.”

“We’re using a lower emission feed diet and all our pigs are managed in rotation with crop production using manure from the pigs, meaning less fertiliser for crops”.

Meet Joe and Michael, Milne AgriGroup farming partners

Michael and Joe Flavel, pork farmers from Millbrook in the great Southern Region of WA, are among the pork producers working with Milne to deliver Coles Certified Carbon Neutral Pork.

“We are really pleased to be part of the carbon-neutral pork project with Coles. We are always looking to produce the finest-quality pork with a strong commitment to environmental and animal welfare values that are backed up with an evidence-based approach to our decision-making,” Michael said.

Certified Carbon Neutral Beef

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here at mansfield uh it's about six and

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a half thousand acres

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and we run a beef cattle enterprise um

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look one of the things one of the great

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things about the carbon neutral program

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and and certainly working with coles

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over the last 10 years is that um

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they're very innovative

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and

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uh there's

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they're actually recognizing the work

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that we've done through this carbon

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neutral program that there's recognition

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of the work that we've done in terms of

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tree planting

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encouraging biodiversity fencing off

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streams

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so to be able to be recognized for that

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is um you know it it's

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it's gratifying to be to be honest

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there's a lot of hard work's gone into

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this

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our philosophy on animal welfare is that

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yeah

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it's actually absolutely paramount in

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our business it's probably right up

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there with one of the most important

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things that we've got to make sure is

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right just from an ethical point of view

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uh you know we we care a lot about the

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animals they've got to be healthy if the

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animals aren't healthy and happy then

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they don't they don't produce for us and

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you know

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i get a lot of satisfaction enjoyment

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by driving around the place looking at

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really healthy

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healthy cattle

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we've done a full assessment of our

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carbon footprint for the farm and

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specifically for

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our beef enterprise so it's highlighted

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number of areas where we can improve and

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i think it's uh yeah it's it's it's an

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exciting program we really wanted to

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continue as a family farm and we were

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very

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um aware of that and you know hopefully

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the kids will uh will see an opportunity

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here and keep going

Coles has become the first major Australian supermarket to launch an Own Brand Certified Carbon Neutral Beef product. Coles Finest Certified Carbon Neutral Beef range launched in April 2022, with seven delicious and premium-quality cuts of beef, from porterhouse steak to an award-winning scotch fillet that won Product of the Year 2023 in the Consumer Survey of Product Innovation.

The range is certified carbon neutral, from farm to shelf, to the Climate Active Carbon Neutral Standard for Products & Services, an Australian Government initiative.

Over the past two years, Coles has been working with beef farmers across Victoria and New South Wales to help calculate and reduce their emissions, resulting in emissions that are 19% below the Australian national average*.

As of April 2023, the Coles Finest Certified Carbon Neutral Beef range has been sold nationally.

Coles former CEO Steven Cain said the launch of Coles Finest Carbon Neutral Beef was a great example of Coles working with suppliers to achieve better sustainability outcomes.

"Coles Finest Certified Carbon Neutral Beef is a testament to the hard work of our beef producers and their commitment to sustainable practices, and we’re thrilled that they’re taking this important step with us."

The packaging for the new beef range is fully recyclable and made from 90% recycled and plant-based sources, an Australian innovation by Coles’ packaging partner Plantic.

As part of the carbon neutral beef program, Coles works with farmers to identify ways to reduce emissions from their operations, such as using renewable energy, changing herd management practices for more efficient reproduction and to maximise growth, and use of genetic selection to improve herd health. To help meet the emissions reduction shortfall to achieve carbon neutral status, Coles will purchase carbon offsets.

Coles Finest Certified Carbon Neutral Beef will carry the ‘Climate Active Carbon Neutral – Product’ logo to help customers identify participating products on shelves. Climate Active certification is awarded to businesses that have achieved a state of carbon neutrality.

*Figure based on average emissions per kilogram of live weight produced.

Meet the Ritchies

Mark and Fenella Ritchie, cattle farmers from Delatite Station in the heart of Victoria’s High Country, have been supplying Coles for 10 years, and are now among the beef producers working with Coles to deliver Certified Carbon Neutral Beef.

“We are really pleased to be part of the carbon neutral beef project with Coles. We are always looking to produce the finest-quality beef with a strong commitment to environmental and animal welfare values that are backed up with an evidence-based approach to our decision-making,” Mark said.

Coles Aussie beef

Sustainability

Coles Finest Certified Carbon Neutral range