Wal-Mart’s Green Streak

Posted in Green on December 21st, 2006 No Comments

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Joel Makower over at Two Steps Forward posted a while back about something exciting happening at Wal-Mart’s Arkansas headquarters. Environmental Defense has designed a new position—a “Corporate Partnerships Project Manager”—who will collaborate with Wal-Mart as a sort of sustainability consultant (one of the many things I’m interested in doing!). And the position is open! “Wanted: One highly motivated, business-savvy, environmentally minded, entrepreneurial self-starter, looking to have a potentially world-changing impact on how business gets done from a sustainability perspective.” Sounds just like me! If only they didn’t always require 37 years of experience!

This is different from a watchdog organization—this partnership should produce solutions that are good for business and environment! There’s no reason this can’t work. I firmly believe that being environmentally conscious reduces wasted energy and resources and creates a more efficient and profitable business.

From Joel:

“Wal-Mart engaged Environmental Defense about a year ago, when the company embarked on a new environmental initiative. Lee Scott, Wal-Mart’s CEO, had just given a speech on ‘twenty-first century leadership,’ where he acknowledged that ‘As one of the largest companies in the world, with an expanding global presence, environmental problems are OUR problems.’ He set forth three ambitious environmental goals: that Wal-Mart be supplied 100% by renewable energy, that it create ‘zero waste,’ and that it sell products ‘that sustain our resources and environment.’”

A few examples of the positive measures that have come out of Wal-Mart in the last year:

A no-idle policy for trucks loading and offloading shipments should reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 100,000 tons a year
A commitment to purchase 100% of its fish (in North America) from Marine Stewardship Council-certified fisheries
A plan to measure the merit of their 60,000 worldwide suppliers on their efficient use of materials in packaging
A pledge to sell 100 million CFL energy-efficient light bulbs in 2007

Learn more about this new job and about the exciting developments for business sustainability at Wal-Mart over at Joel’s blog: Job Opportunity: Move to Bentonville, Change the World!