The launch of Walmart's Sustainability Index last year turned a lot of heads in the retail and environmental space and many of us watched and waited to see how serious it was. Many have criticized Walmart for not more heavily enforcing its Supplier Packaging Scorecard and felt that the requirements introduced in the Sustainability Index may meet a similar soft-handed implementation. Much to the benefit of the retailer and our planet, Walmart's approach to the Index has been anything but soft-handed.

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In fact, the road leading to the launch of the Index and Walmart's latest landmark announcement of its goal to reduce 20 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, has been long and far-reaching one. To get a better sense of the seriousness with which Walmart takes sustainability, it is helpful for us to look at the past few years since they first got on board with sustainability.

Here's a look at just some of the top initiatives launched by Walmart to improve supplier sustainability since 2005:

• 2005: Hosted its first Sustainable Packaging Expo for suppliers; Published first Report on Ethical Sourcing; CEO H. Lee Scott Jr. pledged to run the company entirely on renewable energy and with zero waster
• 2006: Launched the Supplier Packaging Scorecard
• 2007: Set up sustainability summits with top 1000 suppliers and asks, "If Walmart can’t trust suppliers on sustainability, how can it trust them on quality?"
• 2008: Challenged home entertainment suppliers to design a product with reduced environmental impact and less harmful packaging (named HP the winner)
• 2009: Launched the Sustainability Index and Supplier Assessment
• 2010: Has partnered with Environmental Defense Fund and commits to reduce its carbon footprint by 20 million metric tons, including that of its, by 2015

In addition to these monumental launches, Walmart has been quietly instituting internal processes and educational campaigns to reduce waste and save money for itself and its customers - something reflected in their new tagline Save Money. Live Better.

Part of Walmart's work has been to produce an accessible library of short videos that educate consumers and suppliers on the importance and methods of making products that are more sustainable. Walmart's Sustainability 2.0 series includes topics from packaging to jewelry to cotton to energy use.

The videos in the serious expound upon the overview of the benefits of sustainability offered in Sustainability 2.0 - Introduction:

View this and other sustainability-related videos and video series at the Walmart video center. 

PERSONALLY SPEAKING

As I keep tabs on Wal-Mart's latest environmental activity and public announcements, I have been inspired to also dig into its past initiatives. I admit with a little chagrine that I had no idea how much Walmart was doing on the sustainability front until I started helping our team educate suppliers on the Index and Assessment. As I research more news to post here for our clients and other interest folk, I am myself learning a lot about this sincerely sustainability-minded retailer and like what I see. ~Heather

Heather Philipp is Director of Media & Communications for Renewable Choice Energy