Environment

Wal-Mart suppliers will have to satisfy specific environmental standards as part of their contracts, but those that meet expectations could be paid more and receive preferential treatment.

The pledge was made yesterday (23 January) by Wal-Mart chief executive Lee Scott in a speech to more than 7,000 managers of its US stores.

Scott also said the world's largest retailer would launch a campaign to improve the environmental, social and ethical standards in its suppliers' factories, and called for backing from other global retailers.

Wal-Mart has already put pressure on packaging suppliers in the US to improve their environmental performance, and is poised to roll out its packaging scorecard after a year of trials with consumer goods suppliers.

The scorecard, which measures pack suppliers' performance on issues such as recycled content, greenhouse gas emissions and renewable energy use, will also be adapted for the UK market and introduced by Asda next year.

More than 3,400 companies had logged on to the Wal-Mart scorecard website by September 2007, entering the details of 13,000-plus products.

A spokeswoman told Packaging News this week that Wal-Mart aimed to have all products in the US entered into the scorecard by 1 February.

Scott said Wal-Mart wanted suppliers to make products more energy efficient, adding: "Taking waste and non-renewable energy out of our supply chain reduces the amount of pollution and greenhouses gases our suppliers send into the atmosphere. And helping our customers buy more sustainable products and be better stewards of the environment reduces their own carbon footprint."