Here’s a retailing truth: You can’t be in the business of selling consumer products without thinking about Walmart. The merchandising behemoth sells so much of what so many North Americans buy — from groceries to tires — that to not seek it as a customer is like trying to grow a garden without water. Yet at the same time, many of the company’s actions and attitudes have historically left much to be desired, all of which tends to put a socially responsible business like ours between a rock and hard place.
This stark reality was brought home when I spent several hours with David Cheesewright, President & CEO of Walmart Canada in both private conversation and on stage as we discussed the future of sustainable retailing in front of several hundred people at the GLOBE Conference in Vancouver. Several things struck me during my encounter with this very human face of the world’s largest company. David, a Brit by birth, has spent the majority of his career in Europe, a vastly different and far more progressive arena for corporate responsibility. This was made immediately apparent by both the depth of his familiarity with every aspect of Walmart’s success and his understanding of its failures. His personal passion and commitment is abundant. He is open and humble about the immensely challenging work that lies ahead of him, never avoids a controversial topic, and is almost shy about what has been accomplished so far.
Many of Walmart’s most recent achievements — from a warehouse powered by geothermal energy to stores that operate with no lighting or air conditioning and purchase virtually all their produce, meat, and baked goods from the local community — were new to me.
Believe me when I say that around here, Walmart is discussed more often than not. And over the last few years, these conversations have been increasingly dominated by (dare I say it) actual praise for a series of fairly remarkable developments at the company. One of our own corporate responsibility experts, someone who knows a poseur when he sees one, even suggests that Walmart has become a legitimate sustainability leader.
Those are pretty extraordinary words, but I think they’re being earned. In February, for example, the company announced its intention to cut its greenhouse gas emissions 20 million tons by 2015. That’s like taking 3.8 million cars off the road, and one and a half times the current projected growth of its carbon footprint over the period, a laudable goal for any corporation, let alone Walmart.
A decision like this demonstrates my belief that business is the most powerful potential instrument for positive change in the world. When a company the size of Walmart decides to do things differently, the effects are huge, and they ripple out into the world with speed and impacts that even governments can’t match. Just look at last month’s Atlantic Monthly, which found that the chain’s Heritage Agriculture program could very well do more to boost the fortunes of small and medium-size farms than government programs and non-profit agencies dedicated to the cause. Think about the company’s commitment to compact fluorescent lighting, which singlehandedly put 137 million energy-saving bulbs in consumers’ hands during its first year. Or its push to get detergent makers to introduce ultra concentrated liquid laundry formulas, a move that remade the industry overnight and now saves some 25 million pounds of plastic resin, 140 million gallons of water, and 40 million pounds of cardboard each year. That’s just the kind of quick, efficient, and meaningful change we’re seeking.
Lately the retailer has mandated other shifts, too. They’ve embarked on a product lifecycle analysis program to spur innovation, create a transparent supply chain, and reduce consumer impacts. They’ve started energy efficiency and renewability initiatives at their facilities, including an environmental demonstration store in Burlington, Ontario whose 60% lower energy needs are met entirely by renewable sources. They’re helping vendors reduce their own carbon outputs, they’re asking suppliers to trace the cotton they use in order to avoid child labor, and have introduced fair-trade goods. Last June, they even joined the Center for American Progress and the Service Employees International Union in sending a joint statement to President Obama on the need for health care reform that comes closer to the Canadian model.
Does that make Walmart a perfect or even a sustainable company? No, far from it. But for the world’s largest business, it’s moving much quicker than most. Certainly many more environmental and labor improvements need to be made, and we’re committed to providing any encouragement and help the company might need to keep making progress. Yet taken together, the existing changes go beyond token gestures. They put Walmart in an unexpected leadership position in the retail sector and provide reasonable proof that the company is committed to sustainability. As someone who has informally advised Walmart executives about what they need to be doing, I can tell you they’ve been listening hard and taking things seriously.
The result is a company putting increasing distance between what it once was and what it’s becoming. Because we like this new direction and because Walmart would certainly make it easier for more families to use our products to create much healthier homes, we’re excited to explore this relationship by selling our diapers in 100 Walmart stores in Canada.
If the company keeps making steady tangible progress toward sustainability, we look forward to the possibility of expanding the relationship. What we won’t do is compromise our standards on things like accountability, transparency, and engagement. But as long as Walmart keeps making advances in these areas, we’ll continue to keep our minds open and our hand extended.
I hope that’s what happens. Not only would countless families become healthier thanks to the access to our products the company can provide, but Walmart’s enormous size and influence holds the potential to create the tipping point the corporate responsibility movement has been waiting for. In both cases, everybody wins. And we’ve reached a tipping point of our own where we think the evidence suggests that’s now worth the benefit of the doubt and some tentative support that encourages further change.
I realize that our decision will not come without controversy. But I also know that we have been as thoughtful about our choice as we have been about any we’ve ever made. In the end, it came down to making the decision we feel has the potential to do the most for the next seven generations. That’s always been our bottom line, and we’re hopeful it’s finally becoming Walmart’s, too.