Despite Greenwashed Image, Walmart Still Top Polluter: Report

Despite a greenwashed new image, Walmart is still one of the country’s biggest polluters, guilty of externalizing the cost of their negligence on people and the environment, says a new report published Wednesday by the Institute for Local Self Reliance (ILSR).

Since 2005 when Walmart’s then-CEO Lee Scott announced that the retail giant would transform itself into a leader on environmental sustainability, little change has actually occurred outside of a “new media narrative” and a “significant shift in the company’s image.”

What the report, Walmart’s Assault on the Climate: The Truth Behind One of the Biggest Climate Polluters and Slickest Greenwashers in America (pdf), uncovers is that despite frequent pronouncements by Walmart about their efforts to improve efficiency, reduce waste and expand the use of renewable energy, the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by the company has grown 14 percent—reaching 21 million metric tons per year—and counting, according to data filed with the Carbon Disclosure Project.

“If it were included in the Greenhouse 100 Polluters Index, a list that is limited to heavy industrial firms, such as oil companies and power plants,” writes report author Stacy Mitchell, Senior Researcher for ILSR, “Walmart would take the 33rd spot, just a hair behind Chevron, America’s second largest oil company.”

The report’s other findings include:

• Deriving only 4 percent of the electricity consumed by stores from its wind and solar projects, lagging dramatically behind other big box retailers including staples (102%), Kohl’s (105%) and Best Buy (12%). The amount of renewable power used by Walmart declined last year because of a lack of “competitive pricing,” explained the company.
• Major sources of greenhouse gases omitted from their pollution accounting include their international shipping operation, land development and construction, increased driving by consumers, and manufacture of store-brand products.
• Recent accidents including the Tazreen factory fire and the collapse of the Rana Plaza complex in Bangladesh demonstrate Walmart has “no credibility with regard to its supply chain.” Further, reporting by the Associated Press revealed that the company had been “instrumental in scuttling an industry-wide garment factory safety initiative in Bangladesh in 2011.”
• According to data published by the Center for Responsive Politics, between 2005 and 2012, Walmart and the Walton family gave more than half of their total Congressional campaign donations to members of Congress who voted against the environment at least 70 percent of the time.