Wal-Mart Rebuts Greenwashing Charges

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Wal-Mart Stores repudiated a report issued yesterday by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Minneapolis, that characterized the retailer’s widely publicized, seven-year-old sustainability program as having fallen short of its goals.

"Walmart's sustainability campaign has done more to improve the company's image than to help the environment," said Stacy Mitchell, author of the report,  “Walmart’s Greenwash,” and a senior researcher at ILSR.

“This group never reached out to Wal-Mart and the information is inaccurate, based on speculation at best,” said Brooke Buchanan, director, sustainability communications for Wal-Mart. The company, she added, “strives for transparency” about its sustainability program each year in its Global Reponsibility Report, which will be released on April 16.

“We’re very satisfied and encouraged by the progress made toward our goals, whether striving for zero waste or renewable energy,” said Buchanan.

But according to the ILSR report, at its current pace, Wal-Mart will need roughly 300 years to reach its goal of 100% renewable energy. As of 2011, the company was deriving only 2% of its U. S. electricity from wind and solar projects, the report said.

Among the ILSR reports other assertions:

— Wal-Mart’s greenhouse gas emissions are increasing rapidly. Its energy efficiency and renewable projects are too modest to match the scale of the company's operations.

— Wal-Mart has not addressed the habitat and climate impacts of its land development practices.

— Wal-Mart has made little progress toward its goal of developing a Sustainability Index to rate consumer products.

— Wal-Mart's campaign donations heavily favor candidates who consistently vote against the environment.

Buchanan acknowledged that Wal-Mart’s sustainability goals are “ambitious,” adding, “We didn’t necessarily know how we would achieve them, but we believed then and we continue to believe now that it was the right thing to do for our business and the environment.”