Wal-Mart, which is spending $500 million per year on sustainability efforts, has released a sustainability report.
CO2 emissions across all regions were up an average of 8.6 percent from 2005 to 2006 – that’s 18,776,224 to 20,388,574 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. In South America, during the same period, emissions jumped 107.6 percent – from 235,451 to 488,781 tonnes.
Direct emissions were up 11.5 percent from 5,204,542 to 5,801,302 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Indirect emissions climbed 7.5 percent from 13,571,683 to 14,587,272 tonnes.
The biggest direct emissions increase came from refrigerants, which were up 28 percent globally. Trucking emissions were up eight percent.
On-site combustion dropped 10 percent.
The company says it’s still developing a tool to measure waste reduction.
In an October 2005 speech titled “Twenty-First Century Leadership,” Wal-Mart committed to three large sustainability goals: to be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy, to create zero waste and to sell products that sustain our resources and the environment.
