THE CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY HORSERACE
Almost three years ago, Walmart began to draw up a green strategy. The $312.4 billion retailing giant launched an aggressive program to encourage "sustainability" of the world's fisheries, forests and farmlands, to slash energy use and reduce waste, to push its 60,000 suppliers to produce goods that don't harm the environment, and to urge consumers to buy green
They hired former Sierra Club president Adam Werbach and 10 World WildLife Fund employees to guide them in their new direction. At first I was skeptical, and began to follow their approach and impact. I found that these mega corporations have huge influence on, and access to, consumers; they already have the global "bully-pulpit" with massive p.r. and advertising capability behind them; they already have global in-store shelf space bought and paid for and can position new products right up front at will. Bottom line - they can reach millions and millions in awakening to the need for us to care for our planet, eat healthy foods and buy sustainable products. I admit not all motives are "pure" but "political correctness" can produce arrogance and keep us from seeing the good that is being done. If we are pushing the agenda that "green" jobs and 'renewable energy' is profitable we can hardly continue to keep the "bad guys" in a dark hole when they are, in fact, investing millions of dollars towards sustainability...and make money.
http://www.thebigmoney.com/articles/judgments/2009/07/13/wal-mart-become-green-umpire?page=full
On September, 24, 2006 usatoday wrote about this new awakening by Walmart:
"We asked ourselves: If we had known 10 years ago what challenges we would face today, what would we have done different?" says CEO Lee Scott. "What struck us was: This world is much more fragile than any of us would have thought years ago."
Already, Wal-Mart has become the world's largest buyer of organic cotton. It introduced "fair trade" coffee at its Sam's Clubs. It began selling some organic foods in the spring and will introduce others this fall. And it is pushing suppliers to use smaller packages to cut waste.
Wal-Mart isn't pushing sustainability solely out of the goodness of its heart. It has realized that it can make money by selling products that are environmentally friendly. It can make millions selling recycled trash and save hundreds of millions by cutting transportation costs.
"Wal-Mart is a huge player, and they have enormous clout," says Scott Burns of the World Wildlife Fund, which has 10 employees working with Wal-Mart on several projects, including sustainability of fisheries. "They're sending a very powerful signal that already is having effects on the way people produce products for them."
Wal-Mart says it will:
• Slash gasoline use by its trucking fleet, one of the largest in the USA, and use more hybrid trucks to increase efficiency by 25% over the next three years and double it within 10 years. That will save $310 million a year by 2015, the company says.
• Buy 100% of its wild-caught salmon and frozen fish for the North American market only from fisheries that are certified as "sustainable" by the non-profit Marine Stewardship Council within three to five years. That designation means areas of the ocean aren't fished in ways that destroy fish populations.
• Cut energy use at its more than 7,000 stores worldwide by 30% and cut greenhouse-gas emissions at existing stores by 20% in seven years. Wal-Mart is the largest private electricity user in the USA.
• Reduce solid waste from U.S. stores by 25% within three years.
Not bad, I say. A good start!
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