In the News

Walmart Announces Sustainable Product Index; Suppliers Asked for Data

Aug 25, 2009

Walmart announced plans to develop a worldwide sustainable product index that will be used to establish a single source of data for evaluating the sustainability of products. The announcement was made during a July 16, 2009 meeting that Walmart held with 1,500 of its suppliers, associates, and sustainability leaders.

The sustainable index will be developed in three phases. Initially, Walmart will gather information by asking its more than 100,000 suppliers to complete a survey on their sustainability efforts. The survey will consist of 15 questions that focus on four areas: energy and climate; material efficiency; natural resources; and people and community. (A list of the questions and other information on the initiative can be found on Walmart's website.) Walmart's top tier U.S. suppliers will be asked to complete the survey by Oct. 1.

In the second phase, a consortium of universities will collaborate with suppliers, retailers, government, and other organizations to develop a global database of information on the lifecycle of products. Walmart announced that it has provided the initial funding for the Sustainability Index Consortium, but has asked all retailers and suppliers to contribute.

"It is not our goal to create or own this index," said Mike Duke, Walmart's president and CEO. "We want to spur the development of a common database that will allow the consortium to collect and analyze the knowledge of the global supply chain."

The third and final phase of the initiative will be to use the database to develop a simple rating system on the sustainability of products for customers. While the rating system will provide consumers with greater transparency on the quality and history of products, according to Walmart, the retailer has not yet determined how the information will be presented to consumers