Wal-Mart Goes Green

In class 20’s reading about smart companies using environmental strategy to innovate, create value, and build competitive advantage, Wal-Mart stands out in this topic of sustainability. While setting environmental goals such as reducing waste, using environmentally friendly packaging, and running stores off renewable energy are all great initiatives to partake in, the real motives of companies deciding to go green is questionable. By setting the above goals, companies are benefitting themselves by innovating, lowering operational costs, and obtaining higher revenues. Wal-Mart has evolved from a once highly criticized environmental villain into an environmental leader with its eco-advantages of installing fuel-saving technologies and reducing packaging. By doing so Wal-Mart is reducing its costs and legal liabilities by limiting toxins. Just as mentioned in class 20’s reading, Green to Gold, companies ahead of the Green Wave lower financial and operational risk. Whether for the benefit of the company or truly for the environment, Wal-Mart’s environmental steps to becoming more sustainable is admirable and sets an example for other companies to decrease the size of their carbon footprint. By the end of 2015, Wal-Mart has announced to eliminate 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its global supply chain.