Coles chief executive Steven Cain at the new Moonee Ponds store.JASON SOUTH
Grocery giant Coles has unveiled a new upmarket supermarket offering, featuring an in-store food court, on-demand vegetable chopping and a swathe of sustainability initiatives as the retailer said it is aiming to cut its carbon emissions 75 per cent by 2030, stepping up its targets.
Located in the Melbourne suburb of Moonee Ponds, the site is Coles’ second premium ‘grocerant’ supermarket-restaurant hybrid, the first of which launched last year in Tooronga. Presenting the new store, the $20 billion retailer pledged to fuel all of its 800-plus sites across the country with renewable energy by 2025 and slice emissions by three-quarters by 2030, a move lauded by advocacy groups Greenpeace and the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility.
Coles is following rivals Woolworths and Aldi in dialling up its emissions targets, having faced pressure from advocacy groups at its last annual general meeting, where it was urged to increase its uptake of renewable energy and set firmer emissions targets. The retailer had previously only had emissions targets set up until 2020.
Source: Coles is following rivals Woolworths and Aldi in dialling up its emissions targets