Sustainability Analysis of Woolworths Group: Corporate Finance Report

This report analyzes the sustainability practices of Woolworths Group Limited, a major retailer listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. The analysis covers environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, including the company's commitment to sustainability reporting, changes over the past five years, and specific initiatives like waste management, climate control, and sustainable supply chain practices. The report examines the company's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve recycling, and source supplies ethically. Additionally, it discusses Woolworths' collaborations with organizations like Good Environmental Choice Australia and the Australian Sustainability Beef Framework. The report also includes a review of management compensation and ethical considerations, assessing the company's overall approach to sustainable business operations and long-term development. The analysis is based on the company's annual reports and sustainability reports, with a focus on the impact of various initiatives on the company's environmental footprint and overall sustainability performance.

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Corporate Finance
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Table of Contents
Environment....................................................................................................................................2
References........................................................................................................................................5

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Environment
Woolworths Group takes various steps in order to ensure that the environmental impact
across the value chain and the operations of the company in the form of providing various ways
for innovation and promoting to develop a healthy planet to live in. The company works with the
suppliers, service providers and various other operations it undertakes for the purpose of
promoting a healthy and sustainable planet. There have been several steps that have been
undertaken by the company and the same would be in the field of Moving to circular economy
whereby the company is aiming at zero food waste that goes to the landfill. Improving the
recycling of the brand packaging products and thereby contributing significantly to the
environment by being a part of the circular economy is what the company is currently
undertaking as a part of sustainability efforts (Woolworthsgroup.com. au 2019). Recycling of
waste has been the key priority of Woolworths Company and the same can be well analysed with
the help of the increase in the waste recycling activities that are undertaken by the company from
the year 2015-2018. It is crucial to note that the initiatives taken by the company in waste
recycling and reusing can be well reviewed from the table presented below:

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On the other hand, it becomes well important for the company to source the supplies from
ethical suppliers that not only help the company with the operations of the company but are well
within the industry standards. Woolworths as a company has taken several initiatives and actions
for the purpose of raising awareness of the various sustainable sourced products. Achieving a net
zero supply chain by applying the process of deforestation of various high-end products and
commodities that are used by the company are in the form of timber pulp, paper, palm oil and
packaging products. The actions and initiatives taken by the company in the due course of the
business operation directly and indirectly affects the working environment of the company and in
order to address the climate change effects the company has taken key efforts like reducing the
Woolworths Group Emission to 10% below the levels that was in the year 2015 (Morioka, Evans
and de Carvalho 2016). Innovating and redesigning the natural refrigerators thereby reducing or
curbing the refrigerant leakages various stores of a company by around 15% of Carbon

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Emissions below the 2015 levels. The total amount of CO2 emission has been the highest from
the Supermarkets, which can be well seen from the Suitability metrics presented below:
It is key to note that from the above discussion that the total Co2 emission released from
the supermarket has been the highest and the same can be well seen from the trend analysis
presented above, The CO2 emission from the Supermarket has decreased considerably in the
trend period analysed for the company as observed in the year 2016-2018. This is the key reason
why the Woolworths Company has implemented and undertaken various strategies for waste

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management, climate control, sustainable supply chain so that its operations can have a
sustainable growth and think of the long-term development for the company (Bayne, Purchase
and Tarca 2019). In order to well ensure the sustainability of various practices undertaken the
company has collaborated with various bodies like Good Environmental Choice Australia
(GECA) for developing or using the recyclable bags which are made 80% from the recycled
content. On the other hand, association with the Australian Sustainability Beef Framework for
ending deforestation caused by beef production has been a key initiative in the supply chain
process of the company.

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References
Bayne, L., Purchase, S. and Tarca, A., 2019. Power and environmental reporting-practice in
business networks. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 32(2), pp.632-657.
Morioka, S.N., Evans, S. and de Carvalho, M.M., 2016. Sustainable business model innovation:
Exploring evidence in sustainability reporting. Procedia CIRP, 40, pp.659-667.
Woolworthsgroup.com.au. 2019 [online] Available at:
https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/icms_docs/195398_2018-sustainability-report.pdf
[Accessed 18 Sep. 2019].