Report Raises Environmental Concerns
Posted on August 31, 2007 by webteam
Critics: Wal-Mart not all that ‘green’ [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette]
A group critical of Wal-Mart’s pay and benefits practices accused the world’s largest retailer Thursday of talking “green” while degrading the environment with its rapid expansion across the nation.
Wal-Mart Watch gave Bentonville-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. some credit for environment-friendly initiatives over the past two years.
But the group said Wal-Mart’s constant expansion will increase the company’s energy usage beyond any savings it will achieve through its conservation efforts and new technology.
The growth of Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers has lured shoppers into driving greater distances, contributing to air pollution, and the huge stores and parking lots generate polluted storm runoff, the group said in the report “It’s Not Easy Being Green: The Truth About Wal-Mart’s Environmental Makeover.”
Wal-Mart spokesman Dave Tovar said the company is committed to three “sustainability” goals: being supplied by 100 percent renewable energy, creating zero waste and selling products that sustain resources and the environment. “Leading environmentalists recognize the positive impact Wal-Mart is making in the effort to sustain our resources and environment. But the truth is, environmental sustainability is a journey, and one company alone cannot solve the global environmental issues we all face,” Tovar said in a statement.
Nu Wexler, spokesman for Wal-Mart Watch, said in a telephone interview that the company was singled out because of its size and growth. “No one comes close to touching them,” he said.
Wexler said the group, funded mostly by the Service Employees International Union, is not suggesting that big-box retailing would not have developed in Wal-Mart’s absence.
Wal-Mart’s annual sales — $ 351. 14 billion last year — were more than three times greater than its nearest global competitor, Carrefour SA of France, and four times those of the No. 2 U. S. retailer, The Home Depot Inc.
Wal-Mart has more than 4, 000 U. S. stores and about 3, 000 more in other countries, employing about 1. 9 million workers.
Over the past two years, Wal-Mart has begun initiatives to promote the use of energyefficient compact fluorescent light bulbs, require suppliers to reduce packaging and improve the fuel efficiency of its truck fleet. It also has introduced energy-saving features in some prototype stores.
On Wednesday, the Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club Foundation gave $ 1. 5 million to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville’s Applied Sustainability Center, which will use the money in its research on reducing fossilfuel use in manufacturing and reducing waste in food production.
“To be fair, progress has been made on this front, and for that the company deserves credit,” Wal-Mart Watch says in its report.
But the group notes that Wal-Mart has run afoul of environmental regulations in multiple locations and supported congressional candidates who have poor environmental voting records, as rated by the League of Conservation Voters.
The report recommends impact studies before local governments approve any Wal-Mart project and points out other local and state-level initiatives — many of which have not been adopted — that could be effective.
The Environmental Defense Fund, a national nonprofit organization that works on environmental-preservation issues, has taken a different approach, working with corporations on projects to lessen environmental impact.
“We’re about finding solutions,” said Michelle Harvey, a project manager and one of two Defense Fund staff members now working out of an office near Wal-Mart’s Bentonville headquarters. She said the group typically works with companies who are leaders in their industry, and other firms often follow. “Regulations are great, but it’s a slow process,” she said. In the past, the group has received funding from the Walton Family Foundation, established by Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. A grandson, Sam R. Walton, sits on the Environmental Defense Fund’s board of trustees. The Sierra Club, another national environmental group, has concerns about Wal-Mart similar to those in the Wal-Mart Watch report, said spokesman Tanya Tolchin. Across the country, she said, the organization has opposed Wal-Mart sites that threatened wetlands and used up farmland and other green space.
