Wal-Mart Goes Green?

The largest company in the world, with $350 billion in 2006 revenue, Wal-Mart has become the new darling of Capitalist Environmentalism. According to Wal-Mart's website, planetary stewardship is now a central corporate value:

"The scope and scale of our business presents great potential to effect positive change. We see opportunities to influence our own operations, while also leading change in the business world at large. Focusing on the environment is key to our mission to improve the quality of life for people around the world. Environmental leadership is critical to our future ability to grow and thrive as a company."

On the advice of consulting firm McKinsey & Co., Wal-Mart has launched an environmental campaign centered on three long-term goals that were announced by CEO Lee Scott in October 2005:

• 100% renewable energy
• Zero waste
• Sustainable products

Shorter term goals include increasing fleet fuel efficiency by 25 percent over three years, reducing CO2 emissions by 20 percent in seven years, reducing energy use at existing stores by 30 percent, and cutting solid waste from U.S. stores by 25 percent in three years. The company is also launching a pilot project designed to encourage reduced-carbon manufacturing by suppliers of seven core products: DVDs, toothpaste, soap, milk, beer, vacuum cleaners, and soda.

One high-publicity effort centers on pushing low-energy lightbulbs. As reported in the New York Times, Wal-Mart aims to sell 100 million compact fluorescent bulbs a year by 2008. If they succeed, total annual U.S. sales of the bulbs "would increase by 50 percent, saving Americans $3 billion in electricity costs and avoiding the need to build additional power plants for the equivalent of 450,000 new homes."

But as activists at Wal-Mart Watch have detailed, these new initiatives will do little to reduce the Arkansas behemoth's environmental footprint : "The company recently announced its goal to cut over two million metric tons of CO2 emissions within six years, yet if Wal-Mart continues to add stores at its current growth rate, its new stores alone will use significantly more energy than any of its energy saving measures will save." New stores eat up huge parcels of undeveloped land and are built with scant attention to local environmental impacts. They also increase regional traffic and vehicular emissions by drawing in customers from a wide circumference.

More globally, Wal-Mart's profitability relies on shipping commodities from cheap third-world suppliers to retail locations across the U.S and around the world. The energy savings captured at showcase stores are a drop in the bucket compared to the environmental costs of all that trans-oceanic freight.