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comment Grading “Green” System
Wal-Mart has proposed an ambitious plan to develop a worldwide sustainable product index determining the social and environmental impact of products. The company hopes to create this universal rating system for other large retailers to follow over the next 5 years.
Based on what you have seen and read about this project, how would you grade it? Use the stars below to indicate your assessment, five stars being the highest rating.
They have already begun the process by sending a 15-question survey about sustainable practices to 100,000+ suppliers around the world. The next step is to create a consortium of various groups and professionals to develop a global database of the lifecycle of products. The final stage will be to translate the information into a simple rating system for consumers—as yet, undetermined.
Critics say that while Wal-Mart is one of the only entities capable of creating such a system, it will not be an easy process. Skeptics also worry that the program aims to distract from the company’s rate of growth—its negative impact on the environment in terms of more building, transporting, and storing is inevitable, essentially a proportionally larger carbon footprint as success grows.
However, Wal-Mart is confident that the environmental information of products will start to affect consumption, especially with the younger generations. "I envision the day that you look at a piece of apparel, you flip a tag over and learn about how sustainable it really is," said Wal-Mart merchandising officer John Fleming, according to the Dow Jones Newswires. "It would be like nutritional labeling is today. But there is some standardization that needs to take place."
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