Corporate Responsibility

The Walmart Foundation gave $2.5 million to Share Our Strength to help the hunger relief organization educate people about eating healthy on a budget.

New York - Almost three-in-four Americans are holding back on spending, according to a new Bankrate.com report, with stagnant income the most frequent reason (32%), followed by the need to save more (24%) and worries about the economy (20%). Just 27% of Americans say they are not holding back spending at all.

Additional findings:

Mooresville, N.C. - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded Lowe's Companies, Inc. the highest honors for industry leadership in its SmartWay and WaterSense programs. On Oct. 22, Lowe's received the 2013 SmartWay Excellence Award for its environmental performance in the freight transportation industry. This month, the EPA also recognized Lowe's with a 2013 WaterSense Sustained Excellence award for its long-standing efforts to educate consumers about water-efficient products and practices.

Rocky Mount, N.C. - QVC has opened a second solar farm comprising 11,564 panels on 11 acres at the Rocky Mount Distribution Center owned by QVC Rocky Mount, Inc. Now generating 5.8 million kilowatt-hours per year, this latest addition brings the combined total number of panels at the site to 17,244 over 18 acres. The first field of 5,680 solar panels on seven acres of land was completed in November 2008.

Dhaka, Bangladesh – Owners of garment factories in Bangladesh are reportedly prepared to raise the minimum wage they pay workers from 50%-80% and ask retailers to pay at least some of the extra cost.

According to Reuters, factory owners have offered a minimum wage of about $46 per month. Workers have requested a minimum wage of about $102 per month, and the government is expected to order an increase in a middle range of $54-$66 per month. Current minimum wage is about $39 a month.

Cheshire, Conn. -- Macy's and Bloom Energy announced that an innovative clean electricity generation system has been installed at Macy’s online fulfillment center in Cheshire, Conn. The servers, from Bloom Energy, use an advanced solid oxide fuel cell technology to produce electricity on-site.

Boca Raton, Fla. -- Office Depot, in partnership with TriplePundit and CSRwire, will convene a “Twitter Chat” on environmental transparency on Oct. 24, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. EST.

The chat will be hosted by Yalmaz Siddiqui, senior director of environmental strategy at Office Depot. To register, send the following tweet: Join me for the #transparency chat with @officedepot @yalmazsiddiqui @triplepundit @csrwire on Oct. 24.

Mooresville, N.C. -- Lowe's has launched a dedicated fleet of natural gas-powered trucks at its regional distribution center in Mount Vernon, Texas. The fleet is among the first serving a major retail distribution center in North America to run solely on natural gas.

With the transition from a diesel-fueled fleet to trucks powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG), Lowe's expects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions nearly 20%  and control fuel costs as it transports up to 68 truckloads each day to stores in Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.