Last year over 30% of Woolworths’ investors supported this resolution against management recommendation - one of the highest votes globally for an environmental resolution. By global standard, a vote of this magnitude would usually result in the company making a meaningful response to address shareholder concerns. To date, there has been no update to shareholders.

Woolworths still faces financial risks through association with a likely extinction event, bacteria outbreaks and animal cruelty by selling salmon farmed in Macquarie Harbour, Tasmania, which threatens the endangered Maugean Skate. In 2023, the Australian Government identified degraded water quality from salmon aquaculture as the Skate’s primary and potentially “catastrophic” threat, urging immediate reductions in farming. The skate remains highly vulnerable to extreme events and is likely to be uplisted to Critically Endangered in 2025. With Gondwanan origins and a habitat partly World Heritage listed, it is among the world’s most endangered ray species. The IUCN recently designated Macquarie Harbour a Key Biodiversity Area due to the Skate’s limited and threatened range.

Community and political support for salmon farming in the Harbour is falling. Recently the industry suffered its worst ever mass mortality due to a bacterial outbreak that killed 6% of annual production and highlighted animal welfare violations and uncontrolled pollution, including salmon fat washing up onshore.

Last year our company said it would continue to sell this product to avoid prejudicing the Environment Minister’s review into salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour. Since then, the Australian Prime Minister backed the industry by amending nature protection laws to limit the power of the Environment Minister to review such decisions – regardless of scientific evidence of negative impacts to a threatened species. This was heavily criticised by conservation groups and scientists across Australia.

The responsibility now lies with Woolworths to do its own due diligence and review whether the risks posed by continuing to sell this product are warranted, and whether other farmed seafood products it sells carry any significant risks for investors. The OECD’s Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct expects companies to fulfil their own due diligence regardless of government action or inaction.