Walmart announced on Thursday a goal to eliminate 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its global supply chain by the end of 2015. This represents one and a half times the company's estimated global carbon footprint growth over the next five years and is the equivalent of taking more than 3.8 million cars off the road for a year."Energy efficiency and carbon reduction are central issues in the world today," said Mike Duke, Walmart president and CEO. "We've been working to make a difference in these areas, both in our own footprint and our supply chain. We know that we have an opportunity to do more and the capacity to do more."
You can read the announcement at http://www.edf.org/pressrelease.cfm?contentID=10834
So is focusing on the suppliers and turning up the pressure on them a good idea?
Miguel Bastillo of the Wall Street Journal thinks that "Wal-Mart will make its suppliers do the dirty work of reducing the carbon footprints of their global supply chains."
Elizabeth Sturcken of the Environmental Defence Fund (an organization that worked closely with Walmart to develop the goal) thinks it's a smart thing to do because "Walmart's supply chain is where the action is. It's the biggest possible lever that Walmart could bring to the table. Walmart will work with suppliers to reduce their emissions - which they otherwise might not do -- resulting in positive ripple effects around the globe."
You can read more comments about the announcement at http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/02/wal-mart-the-green-giant-its-plan-to-cut-pollution-raises-questions-/1
So what do you think?
Raz
Our DuPont speaker told us the next evolution of their sustainability goal is looking at the entire value chain. As Sturcken says, this is where the action is. I think there is value in this, but it also raises the question of what are YOU doing Walmart? Are you making everyone else become better, while not taking opportunities to improve your operations?
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