Coles will source 100% of its electricity needs from renewable sources by the end of FY25, after signing this week of the last of the power purchase agreements needed to meet the ambitious target .

These recently signed renewable electricity agreements for Large Scale Production Certificate (LGC) agreements are with Origin Energy, ACCIONA Energía and ENGIE.

LGCs will come from renewable electricity produced at wind and solar farms in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland, and will propel Coles further in its ambition to become the world’s largest supermarket. sustainable development in Australia, as part of the Together to Zero focus of its sustainable development. Strategy.

Renewable electricity LGCs will come from existing sites, including the Willogoleche wind farm in South Australia and the Mt Gellibrand wind farm in Victoria. The agreements will also take advantage of renewable electricity from several wind and solar farms under construction.

The agreements mean Coles has already secured enough renewable electricity to cover its estimated electricity consumption from July 1, 2025.

Thinus Keevé, Director of Sustainability, Real Estate and Exports at Coles, said he is extremely proud that Coles has not only charted a clear path to meet its 100% renewable electricity target on time, but also put the plan in motion less than a year after the target was announced.

“As part of Coles’ sustainable development strategy, including Together to Zero, we have set the ambitious goal of being supplied with 100% renewable electricity by the end of fiscal year 25. The agreements with Origin Energy, ACCIONA Energía and ENGIE put us on the right track to achieve this, â€he said.

“We can now say with confidence that Coles will be 100% renewable from July 1, 2025, which is an incredible achievement.”

Coles became the first Australian retailer to announce a renewable energy purchase agreement in 2019 with global renewable energy production company MYTILINEOS, formerly known as METKA EGN.

In June 2021, Corowa Solar Farm in New South Wales became the first of three solar power plants included in the deal to be fully operational. Throughout fiscal year 21, Coles also signed agreements with Lal Lal Wind Farms, Neoen, ENGIE and CleanCo.

This milestone comes as Coles was recently ranked second out of 62 food retailers worldwide for its sustainable business practices in the 2021 World Benchmarking Alliance Food and Agriculture rankings, the highest ranking for a Australian supermarket.

In August, Coles also established a total of $ 1.3 billion in sustainability loans (SLLs) over four years.

Following the publication of Coles ‘full sustainability strategy in June 2021, SLLs draw a direct line between Coles’ sustainability performance and the cost of capital.