Walmart aims for zero emissions across its global operations by 2040
Company hopes to encourage others 'to restore, renew and replenish ... our planet'
Walmart is "doubling down" on its sustainability goals with plans to reach zero emissions across its global operations by 2040.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WMT | WALMART INC. | 92.50 | +0.62 | +0.67% |
As part of its new set of goals released Monday, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have also committed to "protect, manage or restore" at least 50 million acres of land and 1 million square miles of ocean by 2030.
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The company says its efforts will help to "combat the cascading loss of nature threatening the planet," the company wrote in a blog post.
In order to do so, Walmart says it plans to harvest enough wind, solar and "other energy sources" to power its facilities with 100% renewable energy by 2035.
A customer shops at a Walmart supermarket on July 16, 2020 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Zeng Jingning/China News Service via Getty Images)
The retailer will also work on electrifying and zeroing out emissions from all of its vehicles, including its long-haul trucks, while also transitioning to low-impact refrigerators for cooling and electrified equipment for heating inside its stores, clubs and data and distribution centers by 2040.
In Monday's blog post, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon acknowledged that the world is facing a "growing crisis of climate change and nature loss" and that "we all need to take action with urgency."
McMillon says the company's commitments will "not only aim to decarbonize Walmart’s global operations" but it will put Walmart "on the path to becoming a regenerative company." The company hopes to also encourage others to follow its lead in "working to restore, renew and replenish in addition to preserving our planet."
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The company says it has been working to raising its sustainability ambitions for the last 15 years through various partnerships.
Walmart says it already powers 29% of its operations with renewable energy and diverts 80% of waste from landfills and incineration facilities.
Through its partnership with Acres for America, Walmart has helped to conserve nearly 1.5 million acres since 2005.
The company is also continuing to work alongside suppliers in its Project Gigaton initiative, which aims to void 1 billion metric tons (a gigaton) of greenhouse gases by 2030.
Since 2017, suppliers have avoided emitting a total of 230 million metric tons of emissions, Walmart said.