Climate Policy Walmart engages with policymakers at all levels on climate change with testimony before congress, conversations with government officials and NGOs, as well as numerous public statements: As a corporation committed to sustainability, Walmart takes climate change seriously and supports a national effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and growing the nation’s economy are not inconsistent objectives. Walmart is prepared to work with Congress and the White House to enact meaningful legislation to slow, stop and reverse the growth of greenhouse gas emissions. Walmart meets regularly with members of Congress, testifies before Congressional committees in both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, and brings our top experts to share our story and successes. “… this past January we announced our support of the effort by the companies and organizations of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (US-CAP), and endorsed the group’s call for strong mandatory national policies and market-based programs for greenhouse gas reductions. Walmart looks forward to working with Congress and the White House to enact meaningful legislation to slow, stop, and reverse the growth of greenhouse gas emissions.” Our goal is to act as a partner with government, providing a lens into the lives of 200 million Americans who shop at Walmart each year, and providing government officials with real-world successes and challenges from the many clean technologies that Walmart is using in our stores and clubs across the country. For example, in February 2009, Walmart brought five of our top clean technology experts to Washington D.C., along with eight of our leading-edge clean technology suppliers. During three days, we:
On February 25 and 26, 2009, Charles Zimmerman, vice president of international design and construction, testified before two Congressional committees – the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources – on the issues of smart grid and energy efficiency in buildings. “Because nearly one-third of Walmart's energy consumption is in the form of lighting, we have developed during the last decade, what we feel, is one of the most efficient lighting systems in the world. In fact, the installed lighting load in one of our newer stores is nearly 50% less than the baseline requirements established in the Energy Policy Act of 2005.” We will continue to engage policy-makers and share examples of the progress we make in meeting our sustainability goals. |
