Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon outlined the company’s sustainability agenda, pointing to a “new era of trust and transparency”, in an address to the Net Impact Conference in Philadelphia last week.
He said the agenda would guide the company’s role in society on critical issues and reflect a wider recognition of Walmart’s impact on communities and the environment.
Walmart has pledged to double sales of locally grown US products, the expansion of sustainable sourcing in more than 20 key commodities, and a new plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The company says it will use a combination of energy-efficiency measures and a commitment to source half of the company’s energy needs from renewable sources, to achieve an 18 per cent emissions reduction in its own operations by 2025.
Additionally, Walmart says it will work with suppliers to reduce emissions by one gigaton by 2030, equivalent to taking more than 211 million passenger vehicles off of US roads and highways for a year.
“We want to make sure Walmart is a company that our associates and customers are proud of – and that we’re always doing right by them and by the communities they live in,” Mr McMillon said. “That’s really what these commitments are about, and that’s why we’re so passionate about them.”
