Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced yesterday a goal to decrease its suppliers' total carbon footprint, or greenhouse gas emissions, by 20 million metric tons by the end of 2015.
The company said this target would be "many times larger" than its own operational footprint and would be equivalent to removing more than 3.8 million automobiles from the country's roads.
Walmart said it will collaborate with the Environmental Defense Fund and other "external advisors" on the project.
Walmart said the project will have three components:
- The project team will focus on the greatest opportunities to decrease emissions. Which can involve any aspect of a product's lifecycle;
- These opportunities can come in sourcing raw materials, manufacturing/processing and transportation of products, customer use of products and/or end-of-life disposal, and
- An assessment of the success of claims related to decreased emissions and footprint size.
Walmart has more than 100,000 suppliers around the world and operates the largest supermarket system in the world.
The company last summer announced plans to develop a sustainability index that will use seals or symbols to indicate the environmental sustainability of the products that it sells, including dairy, meat and poultry products (Feedstuffs, July 27, 2009).
Additional information about its carbon footprint goal is available at www.walmartstores. com/greenhousegas
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