Wal-Mart recently announced that it was going to cut its emissions by 20 million metric tonnes by 2015. This means in five years the company plans to cut the equivalent of taking more than 3.8 million cars off the road, or all of its corporate emission for the year of 2010. To accomplish this feat, they will not be going the journey alone, but will spread the risk around to their suppliers. Wal-Mart will encourage its suppliers to reduce their carbon footprints in the process or they will not be included in the Wal-Mart supply chain. This move has major implications because Wal-Mart is a very big company. How big you ask? Well for starters Wal-Mart posted approximately $400 billion in revenue in 2009 with a net profit of approx $13 billion. According to the Fortune Global 500 it was ranked as the world’s largest public company in 2008 and has a supply chain that is tens of thousands of companies strong.
Wal-Mart will encourage its suppliers to reduce their carbon footprints in the process or they will not be included in the Wal-Mart supply chain. This move has major implications because Wal-Mart is a very big company. How big you ask? Well for starters, Wal-Mart posted approximately $400 billion in revenue in 2009 with a net profit of approx $13 billion. According to the Fortune Global 500 it was ranked as the world’s largest public company in 2008 and has a supply chain that is tens of thousands of companies strong.
The potential ramifications of “greening” the Wal-Mart supply chain are something that many companies around the world will have to respond to in one way or another. In one Wal-Mart news release, it was stated that the idea of corporate sustainability is no longer a conversation left for the fringe hippies in the office. Sustainability has moved into the mainstream and with careful application companies are learning that sustainability just makes good business sense. Read Full Article
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