23 Sep Spotlight | Climate campaign of the Day | Walmart

Yesterday, during the opening ceremony of Climate Week NYC, the world’s largest retailer, Walmart, announced plans to address the climate crisis by targeting zero emissions across the company’s global operations by 2040. In the plans, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are also committing to protect, manage or restore at least 50 million acres of land, and one million square miles of ocean by 2030 to help combat the cascading loss of nature threatening the planet. 

Although the retail giant has been working on sustainability initiatives for the past 15 years, these newly laid plans are Walmart’s boldest yet. Walmart wants to play a leading role in transforming the world’s supply chains to be regenerative, that is, working in harmony with nature – to protect, restore and sustainably use natural resources. By becoming a ‘regenerative company’ Walmart plans to simultaneously take climate action, by drastically reducing and removing Greenhouse Gas emissions, while also replenishing and preserving our planet’s natural resources to reverse the degradation of critical landscapes and biodiversity.

Walmart aims to achieve this without carbon offsets by: 

• Harvesting enough wind, solar and other energy sources to power its facilities with 100% renewable energy by 2035
• Electrifying and zeroing out emissions from all of its vehicles, including long-haul trucks by 2040
• Transitioning to low-impact refrigerants for cooling and electrified equipment for heating in its stores, clubs, data centers and distribution centres by 2040. 

These bold commitments showcase Walmart’s urgency for climate action, and inspire other retail giants to follow suit. Good luck Walmart and Kudos to you. Click here to learn more about Walmart’s new commitments.