Wal-Mart to reduce greenhouse emissions, costs

BENTONVILLE, Ark.

Wal-Mart Stores will cut costs by measuring and reducing greenhouse gas emissions throughout its supply chain, the retailer announced Monday morning.

Wal-Mart hopes its pilot program will develop a reporting system that can eventually be expanded to the company’s whole supplier base of more than 60,000 companies. Currently, the chain is collaborating with about 30 other suppliers, four to five in each of the retailer's seven product categories.

The company believes its suppliers can substantially reduce their costs, particularly from energy use, by measuring carbon dioxide output.

“The more we learn here, the more there’s real business and consumer opportunity, in that there’s a lot of unharvested efficiencies yet,” said Wal-Mart’s head of the retailer’s greenhouse gas strategy Jim Stanway. “When you look back at the supply chain and at factories and warehouses and you start thinking about their basic needs for energy .?.?.?there’s a huge opportunity to do some relatively simple things to save energy. We hope to.?.?.?help suppliers get the costs of the carbon out of the system.”