Walmart Debunks Sustainability Myths

There are many organizations that continually come up with reasons why corporate sustainability won’t work for their business. There are people that believe sustainability is for a select group of companies. At the same time there are also businesses like Walmart that are making changes, becoming more environmentally responsible and profiting from these changes. Vijay Kanal is a corporate executive and consultant that has worked with and researched Fortune 1000 companies on the subject of sustainability. He has come up with the 8 Myths about Sustainability in Business. The big myths about sustainability he touches upon include:

1. It’s a cost and we can’t afford it right now

2. It requires lots of staff

3. There’s no money to be made from sustainability

4. It’s just for big companies

5. It’s mostly for B2C companies

6. If we make claims about sustainability, we’ll be accused of greenwashing

7. NGOs are our adversaries

8. We don’t have to worry about the supply chain because we don’t make things

The last myth is a topic that has gathered a lot of attention lately because of Walmart. The idea that a company does not make a product and therefore does not have much of a carbon footprint is not necessarily true. Walmart for instance doesn't make things but according to Matt Kistler, Senior Vice President of Sustainability at Walmart, 88 percent of the company's environmental footprint is in its supply chain while only 12 percent is in its direct control. Therefore, as Walmart works toward its goal of carbon neutrality it is going to have to address, guide and manage its supply chain. It is easier for larger companies to do this but supply chain management needs to become an integral part of a company's sustainability goals. The supply chain as Vijay Kanal explains cannot be ignored and companies purchasing power provides opportunities to influence these relationships. 

PERSONALLY SPEAKING