Joel Makower
GreenBiz
November 17, 2015
It’s been 10 years since Walmart set out on its quest to become a leader in sustainability, beginning with three bold, aspirational goals. This is the second of a two-part series that takes stock of the company and its progress, as well as its sustainability journey over the past decade. Part One looked at the history of Walmart’s sustainability initiative. Part Two looks at the company’s sustainability performance.
This morning, at a Global Sustainability Milestone Meeting held in its Home Office auditorium in Bentonville, Ark., Walmart is unveiling the latest results in its decade-long journey to address its environmental and social challenges, and to be seen as a sustainability leader.
It’s an impressive update. Among the data Walmart is releasing today is that the company has exceeded the goal, set in 2010, to eliminate 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its global supply chain. Today, the company is announcing that it exceeded that goal, eliminating 28.2 million metric tons to date, the equivalent of the emissions of nearly 6 million cars over a year.
It is also announcing that it has doubled the fuel efficiency of its fleet since 2005, through innovations in loading, routing and driving techniques, as well as through new tractor and trailer technologies, saving $1 billion along the way. Other achievements have to do with the food it sells, the company’s biggest product category, including improving food affordability; increasing access to food; making healthier eating easier; and improving safety and transparency in the supply chain.
There’s more — dozens if not hundreds of initiatives the company has taken on since October 2005, when its then-CEO, Lee Scott, in a speech on “21st century leadership” — given in the same auditorium as today’s meeting — set three bold goals…