How to Green a Supply Chain?

The ezine Greenbiz (http://www.greenbiz.com/ )and CFO Magazine, recently reported about changes in Walmarts supply chain initiative. If you are a supplier to Walmart, or somewhere in that supply chain, you have probably already encountered their sustainability initiatives

If you have not, essentially, it comprises a coordinated change plan addressing high ROI practices and products that are address Walmart’s concerns about energy, climate change, fresh water, and a supply chain that will eventually fully incorporate life cycle analysis/assessment (LCA).

Part of that is the development of a database that will use LCA to record and compare the CO2 intensities, among other things, of the products they carry and are interested in carrying. This will eventual provide new label information for the products sold in Walmart and Sam’s Club.

“In 2009, Walmart provided the initial funding for The Sustainability Consortium (http://www.sustainabilityconsortium.org/ TSC)… to develop and promote science and integrated tools that can improve informed decision making for sustainability throughout the entire lifecycle of everyday products. “ ( Greenbiz)

This month, TSC has begun operations in China. “The expansion will see The Consortium collaborate with existing members, Chinese stakeholders, civil society organizations and local research partners to improve the systems and tools for product sustainability assessment. .This work will support product sustainability improvements in China and beyond.” (Greenbiz )

TSC is has developed the Sustainability Measurement & Reporting System, “…a standardized framework for the communication of sustainability-related information throughout the product value chain. The framework… serves as a common, global platform for companies to measure and report on product sustainability. It enables rigorous product level Life Cycle Assessments to be done at a fraction of today's time and cost, and provides a platform for sustainability-related data sharing across the supply chain.”

Walmart and its partners carry a lot of weight. Essentially, they have started a multi-part process of private sector solutions to problems. For example, I would not even try to guess how difficult it would be and how long it would take to develop a federal government CO2/LCA product labeling framework. Walmart and its partners, are creating that, as part of their business strategy.