Walmart to Miss 2 Climate Change Targets
Walmart expects to miss its 2025 and 2030 targets for reducing planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.
In 2020, the retail giant pledged to reduce its Scope 1 emissions 35% by 2025 and 65% by 2030. In a post at the end of December, Walmart said challenges related to energy policy, infrastructure and the availability of cost-effective low-carbon technologies will likely delay achievement of its interim 2025 and 2030 targets.
As of the end of 2023, Walmart’s operational emissions (Scopes 1 & 2) decreased 19.3% relative to its 2015 baseline, while carbon intensity declined by 45% in the same period. But also in 2023, the retailer’s annual year-over-year emissions increased 3.9% due to business growth and other factors.
Walmart said that it is continuing to work towards its aspirational goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2040, but its progress will not be linear.
“While we continue to work towards our goals, progress depends on many factors outside our control, including public policy, emergence and cost-effectiveness of low carbon technologies, and broad sectoral transitions in energy systems, transportation, materials, and agriculture,” the retailer stated.
Walmart noted that it continues to expand its onsite and offsite renewable energy portfolio, with 48% of global electricity needs supplied by renewable sources in 2023, which is line with targets. The company expects to power all of its global operations with renewable sources by 2035.
In another positive development, Walmart said it achieved its Project Gigaton goal six years early, with suppliers reporting projects that are expected to exceed 1 billion metric tons of cumulative emissions reduced, avoided, or sequestered in global value chains by 2030. (The initiative aims to reduce or avoid one gigaton, or 1 billion metric tons, of greenhouse gas emissions from the global value chain by 2030.)
Walmart said it will continue to prioritize reductions in value chain emissions, including through the continuation of Project Gigaton.
This article was originally covered by sister publication Chain Store Age.
