Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) will meet with its Chinese suppliers this fall to address waste reduction and emissions cuts at factories that supply goods to the giant retailer, Chief Executive Lee Scott announced yesterday.
"We started a very aggressive program in China that is not only going to deal with environmental sustainability, but is also going to deal more aggressively with the issues of sourcing in China," Scott said during an appearance at the Wall Street Journal ECOnomics conference in Goleta, California.
The meetings will include thousands of Chinese businesses, and Scott said Wal-Mart has hired an outside consulting firm to speed up the sustainability initiative, which he said "will take a long time."
Wal-Mart has already had some success in pushing U.S. suppliers to cut back on packaging, and the company has set a goal of eventually producing now waste and using only renewable energy sources. However, now that much of the low-hanging fruit has been taken, achieving larger sustainability goals is likely to take more work.
Scott said Wal-Mart will work with non-governmental organizations to help plant inspectors in China understand the company’s sustainability initiatives.
He said the company’s top priorities in China will be appropriate waste disposal, overall waste reduction and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as well as reducing packaging and boosting energy efficiency.
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