Walmart releases its GHG roadmap
Walmart releases its GHG roadmap
By Robert Clark | Aug 12, 2010
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Retail giant Walmart has issued details on how it will work with suppliers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the supply chain.
The retailer committed in February to cutting the carbon footprint at all stages of the product lifecycle by 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide between now and 2015.
The framework just released - developed with help from consultancies ClearCarbon Consulting and PricewaterhouseCoopers(PwC) and non-profits the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and EDF – shows how it will achieve those reductions.
Elizabeth Sturcken, managing director of Corporate Partnerships Program for non-profit Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), notes in a blog that Walmart will focus two key product groups:
- Products with significant greenhouse gas emissions in their lifecycle, whether in their manufacture, transport or use
- Top-selling items that are potentially big carbon wins, such as bread, clothing, and pork, along with taking Walmart’s CFL campaign to markets outside the US.
“It’s the qualification, quantification and assessment of reductions that led our team to create a guidance document that establishes ‘rules’ for counting carbon reductions towards Walmart’s 20 million tonnes goal,” she said.
Under the framework, Walmart calculates carbon reductions for each project, outlines the qualification criteria the rules for accounting for emissions reductions and assuring that they are real.
“This guidance is built upon standard carbon accounting procedures, but recognizes that aspects of this project (e.g., Walmart’s ability to market better products) are unique and thus need to be specifically addressed. This document was designed as an internal tool for our project team.”
She adds transparency is increasingly a “core part of how Walmart now does sustainability.”
“Our project team decided to put this guidance document out there so everyone could see how we are striving to make sure our work is meaningful and real.”
