Walmart has announced plans to develop a worldwide sustainable product index during a meeting with 1,500 of its suppliers, associates and sustainability leaders.
The index will establish a single source of data for evaluating the sustainability of products. The company will introduce the initiative in three phases, beginning with a survey of its more than 100,000 suppliers around the world.
The survey includes 15 questions that will serve as a tool for Walmart's suppliers to evaluate their own sustainability efforts. The questions will focus on four areas: energy and climate; material efficiency; natural resources; and people and community.
As a second step, the company is helping create a consortium of universities that will collaborate with suppliers, retailers, NGOs and government to develop a global database of information on the lifecycle of products - from raw materials to disposal. Walmart has provided the initial funding for the Sustainability Index Consortium, and invited all retailers and suppliers to contribute.
The company will also partner with one or more leading technology companies to create an open platform that will power the index. The database is going to be open to all to use.
The final step in developing the index will be to translate the product information into a simple rating for consumers about the sustainability of products. This will provide customers with the transparency into the quality and history of products that they don't have today.
There‚'s coverage in The Telegraph here.
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