Feroz Koor, Group Sustainability Officer at Woolworths Holdings, explains how the ‘Good Business Journey’ is woven into governance, stakeholder engagement and business decision-making.
How is sustainability governed at Woolworths?
Unusually among peers, Woolworths has a dedicated board sustainability committee, separate from its social and ethics committee. This reflects both its historical set-up and the breadth of sustainability, warranting focused board attention beyond social and ethics oversight.
Stakeholder engagement underpins sustainable business. How do you engage with investors?
Sustainability engagement with investors forms part of the broader investor programme and remains ongoing. Standard investor roadshows routinely include sustainability information, with specialist input provided for technical queries. Woolworths has also held proactive, investor-specific sustainability sessions, which were well received.
What is your approach to engaging with suppliers?
We work with suppliers aligned with our sustainability philosophy. All suppliers sign up to our business principles, which align with International Labour Organization conventions on ethical trade and the Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code. These codes specify standards for human rights, labour practices, health and safety, environmental stewardship, animal welfare, and anti-bribery and corruption, supported by policies and position statements.
Due diligence is conducted before onboarding new suppliers to identify and address potential risks.
Relationships with suppliers are viewed as partnerships. Both Woolworths and suppliers invest in advancing sustainable practice. We recognise that no supplier starts at 100%. The expectation is a shared improvement journey, with clear targets and support.
Are sustainability priorities factored into capital allocation decisions?
Some capital decisions are sustainability-led and carry measurable returns. For example, Woolworths began installing energy and water sub-meters in stores 15 to 17 years ago and was reportedly the first South African retailer to fit doors on refrigeration units, now an industry standard. These cases have clear return-on-investment (ROI) logic that finance teams can model directly.
More often, sustainability is not a discrete line item but embedded in sourcing, product and capital expenditure decisions. Sustainability is not treated separately; it is integral to how we do business. Quality, cost and sustainability attributes are considered together, avoiding sustainability being singled out as a cost driver.
How are sustainability risks and opportunities embedded?
There is no parallel sustainability risk process. Risks such as water or energy security sit within the corporate risk register. The business teams, together with the sustainability team, identify risks for inclusion in the enterprise risk process, which reports to the board risk committee.
Opportunity identification sits with business, product or procurement teams. The value in this cross-functional discipline is that it enables colleagues managing operations to incorporate sustainability into ordinary business planning.
What systems track sustainability performance and how is this reported?
Scorecards and key performance indicator (KPI) structures were set up at the start of the ‘Good Business Journey’ and refined over time. Metrics and targets are agreed by the sustainability team and business units. Ownership sits with the business units delivering the work. The sustainability function collects this data centrally, builds the group-level performance picture and reports through the executive committee to the board.
How much do codes and standards shape the programme?
Codes and standards play an important role and add value but are treated as guidance rather than drivers. Woolworths first considers the kind of organisation it wants to be and the outcomes it wants to achieve, then assesses how codes and standards align with those ambitions.
There is a risk that if regulation increases, mandatory requirements could crowd out more ambitious, outcomes-focused work.
The ‘Good Business Journey’ depends on board-level conviction that sustainability matters. Executives cannot manufacture that belief. However, the sustained, granular work of translating conviction into supplier terms, capital cases and reporting systems is executive work. Boards license and resource the journey. Executives run it.
