Walmart’s president and CEO Doug McMillon recently unveiled Walmart’s renewed, broader sustainability agenda, delineating the company’s enhanced responsibilities and commitments towards society and the environment. Walmart, reporting on its “global responsibility” following the GRI sustainability reporting Standards, committed to:

• Achieve, by 2025, zero waste to landfill in Walmart’s most important markets, having already (2015) accomplished this goal for 75% of the company’s global waste.

• Sell more sustainable, safe and healthy products, expand its responsible sourcing efforts, reduce product and packaging waste and ensure – among other targets – that its packaging is, by 2025, 100% recyclable.

• Most importantly, by 2025 cover 50% of Walmart’s energy needs from renewable energy sources, so as to achieve science-based targets in reducing Walmart’s greenhouse gas emissions. Through a number of energy-efficiency initiatives and the wider use of renewable energy (in 2015 renewable energy was used for 25% of Walmart’s operations), Walmart, the first retailer whose emissions-reduction plan is approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative, committed to reduce emissions from its operations by 18%, by 2025. Walmart will also join forces with its suppliers to reduce, by 2030, emissions by 1 Gigaton (the equivalent of taking more than 211 million cars off US roads and highways for one year).

• Strive to be an employer of choice by – among other goals – ensuring workers in the retail supply chain are treated fairly and with respect, equipping Walmart’s associates, through specialized training programs, with the skills needed to grow in their career and by supporting equal pay for equal work.

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This article was compiled using a press release by Walmart. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses but made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the press release’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the link below:

http://news.walmart.com/2016/11/04/walmart-offers-new-vision-for-the-companys-role-in-society

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