Wal-Mart, known as the world’s largest retailer announced a goal to reduce twenty million metric tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its supply chains by the end of 2015. This is equivalent of removing more than 3.8 million cars from the road for a year.
Since 2005, Green House Gas (GHG) has brought out the issues of global warming and climate change, which made energy efficiency and carbon reduction became the central issue for the world today as said by Walmart president Mike Duke.
In pursuing its goal, Wal-Mart work together with Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), and other experts like Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) to evaluate its supply chains on a global scale. In doing so, both the EDF and CDP will act as a team to help advise the suppliers, and measure reductions.
Wal-Mart also plans to achieve its goal by mainly targeting on popular product categories like milk, bread, meat, clothing, DVD, tooth paste, soap, beer, soda water etc. that contain highest embedded carbon. It does that by asking its suppliers to rethink how they source, manufacture, transport, and examine the carbon lifecycle of their products. For example, in the past few years, Wal-Mart’s DVD supply chain reduces greenhouse gas emissions by eliminating the plastic knob in the centre of its CD cases. It then changed the labels on the clothing it sells to indicate that the product can be washed in cold water, which helped customers to lower their cost for electricity.
In doing these, Wal-Mart not only creates sustainability development to meet current needs, it also reduced costs because of increased energy efficiency of the supply chains. Therefore, it can be passed along to customers with products sold at lower prices, and help maintain Wal-Mart’s reputation as a destination for “rock-down prices.”
Sources: http://futurepredictions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/FOG.jpg
http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/business/walmart/files/cover.jpg
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/26/business/energy-environment/26walmart.html