Wal-Mart's Next Green Goals

While activists argue that Wal-Mart is the world's biggest contributor to globalization, most Americans stroll through the mega-mart's aisles oblivious to the retailing giant's impact on both the environment and their local economies. With plans in 2009 to add 150 new locations to its current roster of 7,900 retails stores, Wal-Mart recently promised 22,000 new positions to the U.S. job market. (Currently Wal-Mart employs 2.1 million worldwide). Meanwhile, last week, the mega-corp released its 2009 Sustainability Report, committing itself to a lofty 100 percent renewable energy use, creation of zero waste and selling more earth-friendly products.

The retailer didn't say when they would reach these goals, and this probably won't bother Adam Werbach, ex-radical (who once called Wal-Mart “toxic”) and former 23-year-old president of the Sierra Club, whose environmental consulting firm Act Now is now under contract as Wal-Mart's chief advising firm in the greening department.

Many would argue that Wal-Mart, being the world's largest retailer — with $400 billion in annual revenues — can never be sustainable, that Werbach was co-opted, and that touting environmental advances amounts to the biggest consumer manipulation in world history. Others would say the growing corporation is here to stay, that it needs to take steps toward sustainability, and thus Werbach is in the vanguard, undermining the status quo and influencing positive change.

Either way, environmentalists, and especially Werbach's former employer (along with this blogger), will be watching Wal-Mart closely to see if it lives up to the goals it set forth in its “Sustainability 360” program. That the environment is becoming Wal-Mart's focus is certainly excellent, controversial news. But is it sincere? We shall see.