Wal-Mart Sustainability Meeting Focuses on Climate Change, Supply Chain

BENTONVILLE, — During the company's Sustainable Value Network meeting last week, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott lead a discussion about how Wal-Mart, working closely with suppliers, academics, NGOs, politicians, and other business leaders, can affect change at all levels of the supply chain.

Scott also welcomed Lorraine Bolsinger of GE, Stewart Muller of Philips Consumer Electronics, Christina Norman of MTV, and hundreds of suppliers and company associates to Bentonville to discuss the issue of climate change. Others who participated in this meeting include former Vice President Al Gore; Jim Ball, executive director of the Evangelical Environmental Network; Edward Shirley, president of Procter & Gamble North America; Paul Rice, CEO of TransFair USA; Rich Noll, CEO of Sara Lee Apparel; and John Lesher, president of Paramount Classics.

"We are all passionate about making real progress regarding the environment," said Scott. "By working together, we can help each other save money, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pass the savings on to our customers. Sustainability is good for the environment, and it's also good for business."

The meeting included presentations from representatives of the Rocky Mountain Institute and other leaders in the environmental field, as well as discussions with Wal-Mart suppliers on how sustainability can impact the supply chain and benefit the customer.

Steve Varon, president of Dana Undies, discussed how his company is working with Wal-Mart on energy efficiency initiatives, and as a result, has been able to significantly reduce their energy costs. And GE and Wal-Mart are exploring ways to promote efficient lighting, especially LEDs and compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).

Each of Wal-Mart's 14 Sustainable Value Networks -- the teams responsible for managing the sustainability of the various aspects of the business, such as packaging, global logistics, apparel, and seafood -- provided updates and shared lessons learned regarding their efforts to improve the company's carbon footprint.