The article in the url below covers an announcement by Walmart last summer to introduce sustainability-related information (such as a product’s carbon footprint and other resources used in its production and consumption) into product labeling:
“As the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores is on a mission to determine the social and environmental impact of every item it puts on its shelves. … The idea is to create a universal rating system that scores products based on how environmentally and socially sustainable they are over the course of their lives. Consider it the green equivalent to nutrition labels.”
The firm announced a five year plan to develop and introduce the system, which it expects will diffuse among other retailers. What is particularly interesting about the article is both the tone (Walmart as a genuine and progressive thought-leader on sustainability) and the support Walmart now enjoys among environmental activists:
“The only thing less likely than a Wal-Mart meeting that sounds as if it were dreamed up by liberal-arts environmentalists may be that a number of scholars and environmental groups say that Wal-Mart is the only entity capable of making ''sustainable consumption'' a retailing reality.”
As with other sustainability policies the firm has introduced, Walmart sees this move as motivated by its business interests:
“Wal-Mart executives said that more and more consumers, especially those born from 1980 to 2000, will be making purchasing decisions based not only on price but also on which products do the least harm to the environment and the people, often in poorer countries, who produce them.”
Since its announcement, this initiative has grown into a multi-industry effort that, given Walmart’s size and reach, has the potential to change the way firms interact with their consumers concerning CSR. It has also attracted a lot of attention in the press. In a recent edition hailing the Top 50 Most Innovative Companies, for example, Fast Company cited the firm’s sustainability policies, in general, and this labeling plan, in particular, as the main reason for placing Walmart at No.9 in the list (http://www.fastcompany.com/mic/2010/profile/walmart).
Take care
David
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
http://www.sagepub.com/Werther/
At Wal-Mart, Labeling To Reflect Green Intent
By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM
1036 words
16 July 2009
The New York Times
Late Edition - Final
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/business/energy-environment/16walmart.html
