Saturday, February 03, 2007

Wal-Mart Wants Suppliers, Workers to Join Green Effort - WSJ.com

Wal-Mart Wants Suppliers, Workers to Join Green Effort - WSJ.com
Excerpts:
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Chief Executive Lee Scott called on the retailing giant's suppliers and employees to aid its green campaign, including a request that suppliers eventually eliminate nonrenewable energy from their processes and products.
But Mr. Scott's remarks yesterday in London marked Wal-Mart's first formal call for suppliers to decrease their use of nonrenewable energy such as that generated by burning coal or gas. Wal-Mart pledges to eventually power its operations entirely with renewable energy sources such as wind and solar energy.

Mr. Scott issued the call while introducing a campaign he christened "Sustainability 360." In another aspect of the campaign, Wal-Mart will ask its 1.35 million U.S. employees this year to make commitments of their own, such as biking to work or encouraging friends to buy energy-efficient light bulbs.

Among the initiatives Mr. Scott outlined, prodding suppliers off nonrenewable energy could have the largest commercial ramifications. Wal-Mart, with an estimated $350 billion in sales last year, buys goods from more than 60,000 suppliers globally.

Some suppliers, such as General Electric Co., already are working with Wal-Mart to promote products such as energy-efficient light bulbs. Osram Sylvania, a unit of Siemens AG, produces 30 types of energy-efficient, compact fluorescent light bulbs.


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