Woolworths Group: Improving Health & Nutrition in Australia

Woolworths Group operates as Australia's largest retailer, employing more than 190,000 team members across its supermarket brands.

The company's operations are driven by its purpose of creating better experiences together for a better tomorrow.

As part of this commitment, Woolworths has released an updated Sustainability Plan that outlines its approach to environmental protection and encouraging healthier food choices amongst consumers, with a particular focus on nutrition and wellbeing.

The new strategy was released in 2024 as the company concludes its 2025 Sustainability Plan, which helped reduce direct emissions and increase renewable electricity usage.

The 2030 Sustainability Plan has been developed around impact and value, while responding to a rapidly changing world and regulatory landscape.

As Woolworths works towards its goal of achieving net zero by 2050, the company aims to reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 80% by financial year 2030 (FY30).

It also targets reducing absolute Scope 3 energy and industrial emissions by 55% by FY33, from a FY23 base year.

Additionally, the retailer has set a target to make positive action on nature by FY30 through improving sustainable sourcing and driving positive animal welfare outcomes in its value chain.

Simon Lowden, Chief Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Officer at The Woolworths Group, writes on LinkedIn: "At Woolworths Group, sustainability isn't just an aspiration; it's how we do business. It's the foundation of our purpose: creating better experiences together for a better tomorrow.

"I am excited to launch our new Sustainability Plan. It is anchored on five priority areas or missions – missions because we know to be successful will require end-to-end system focus.

"These five missions are anchored on where we know we can make the biggest difference: climate and nature, waste and circularity, human rights, social impact and health and nutrition, underpinned by fourteen goals. And the transparent reporting to back it up."

Supporting healthier customer choices

According to the Australian Institute of Health & Welfare, obesity represents a leading risk factor for premature death and disease in Australia and New Zealand.

To address this challenge, Woolworths Group is working to support its customers in making healthier choices.

With its portfolio of supermarkets serving millions of customers each day, the company could have the opportunity to influence change in how people eat, providing good nutrition and potentially improving health outcomes.

The retailer aims to make healthier food options more accessible and affordable, with a target to sustain more than an 80% share of healthier products in customer baskets.

The company plans to reformulate its own brand products by removing or reducing salt, sugar and saturated fats, while scaling its fresh categories and convenient meal solutions to meet customer demand for healthier and high-quality food options.

Simon continues: "What gives me genuine confidence in what comes next is that this plan isn't driven by ambition alone.

"It's grounded in evidence, shaped by our partners and stakeholders and owned across the business. Real accountability. Real partnerships. Real progress. I cannot wait to see what we deliver together."

Circular solutions for waste reduction

According to Woolworths Group, packaging and food waste remain amongst the top concerns for customers, which could be linked to high plastic use and low recovery rates for materials.

The company has identified opportunities to implement circular solutions aimed at keeping resources in continuous use.

This aligns with the Australian Government's 2035 target to double circularity and increase food waste recovery.

The retailer has set a goal to repurpose more than 90% of its food surplus by FY30 by addressing the lifecycle of food and keeping it at its highest possible value through redistribution.

It also aims to transition its own brand packaging to include an average of 30% recycled content by FY30.

Woolworths plans to continue lightweighting its packaging and replacing plastic with alternative materials, as well as investing in partnerships to scale plastics recycling infrastructure and soft plastics recycling capacity to support its customers.

In the company's 2025 Annual Report, Scott Perkins, Chair of Woolworths Group, writes: "This year marks the end of our five-year 2025 Sustainability Plan with meaningful progress achieved across key focus areas.

"Notable highlights over the plan period include the Group's efforts to support our community through AU$480m (US$340m) in direct contributions, delivering over 165 million meals to people in need through our partners, addressing modern slavery in our supply chain and removing over 20,000 tonnes of virgin plastic from our own brand products."