Product Supply Chain Sustainability

This brief aggregates and summarizes information discussed in our other published briefs, notably Regeneration of Natural Resources, Climate Change, Waste: Circular Economy, and People in Supply Chains. For more comprehensive discussion of these topics, including our approaches, initiatives and challenges, including challenges to achieving our goals, please see the relevant briefs.

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Retail supply chains bring quality, affordable products to consumers around the world. Sustainable, regenerative practices can create value for companies and for society by increasing supply chain resilience and efficiency, improving product availability and quality, mitigating risk, creating opportunities for workers, and sustaining license to operate.

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Walmart engages suppliers, customers, and NGOs across a wide range of product supply chains in support of climate, waste, nature, and people-related objectives. Because of the complexity of global supply chains and the systemic nature of issues, lasting improvement requires collaboration among many stakeholders.

To improve the sustainability of a given product supply chain, we start by listening to our customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders to set aspirations—such as emissions reduction or economic inclusion—and prioritize improvements to the product supply chain system, such as improved farming practices or commodity traceability. We make progress by:

• Setting standards and requirements for Walmart product sourcing
• Engaging Walmart suppliers to spark action, share best practices and tools, and encourage measurement and disclosure
• Contributing to industry consortia and initiatives to accelerate collective action beyond Walmart
• Helping Walmart customers make informed choices
• Advocating for public policy that aligns with sustainable supply chain priorities
• Investing in philanthropic efforts to accelerate systems change beyond Walmart

For additional information, visit People in Supply Chains, Supplier Opportunity, Regeneration of Natural Resources and other briefs.

20x2025 Sustainable Commodities

In 2016, Walmart announced a goal to expand and enhance more sustainable sourcing to cover 20 key commodities by 2025. Our goal is to ensure that our product supply chains support our sustainability objectives. Our approach to more sustainably sourcing these commodities includes:

• Setting standards and requirements for Walmart product sourcing
• Engaging Walmart suppliers to spark action, share best practices and tools, and encourage measurement and disclosure
• Contributing to industry consortia and initiatives to help accelerate action beyond Walmart
• Helping Walmart customers make informed choices
• Advocating for public policy that aligns with sustainable supply chain priorities
• Investing in philanthropic efforts to accelerate systems change beyond Walmart.

See the commodities section of the Key Goals and Metrics table at the top of this brief and the individual commodity documents for more information on progress towards our sustainable commodities aspirations, as well as challenges we face in achieving our aspirations on particular commodities.

For the current status of our 20x2025 initiative, please see the chart here.

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Achieving our sustainable supply chain aspirations necessitates progress across multiple dimensions, each with its own significant challenges. For detailed discussions of our approach to each dimension and the challenges we face, see Regeneration of Natural Resources, Climate Change, Waste: Circular Economy, People in Supply Chains, and other briefs. Additionally, the following factors pose challenges to our aspirations:

• Walmart’s sustainable supply chain aspirations are dependent on the maturity, rigor and efficacy of third-party standards and initiatives. For certain practices, there currently is no universal set of standards for responsible or more sustainable production and/or certification beyond compliance with the law (e.g., responsible recruitment, wage/hour). Furthermore, there are limits to the efficacy of tools used to monitor compliance with expectations. Similarly, gathering supplier data of sufficient quality can prove a challenge for robust reporting.
• The breadth of Walmart's global product offerings and dispersed geographical reach of supply chains can present challenges for supplier engagement and nature-related risk identification and mitigation. Moreover, certain products can only be obtained from specific regions of the world, limiting options for alternative sources.
• Walmart’s ability to scale more sustainable options is dependent on customer preferences and demand (which can depend on the cost and convenience of such options) and the availability and cost of preferred products, ingredients, commodities, and inputs. Growth and/or changes in our business can challenge our ability to meet customer demands consistent with our aspirations.
• The public policy environment in certain countries/regions does not support (and may undermine) more sustainable production at scale and at a reasonable cost.
• Pandemics, weather-related events, and political/social unrest can create supply/demand volatility and interrupt supply chains.

1. Calculated in accordance with Walmart’s Project Gigaton Accounting Methodology, available on the Walmart Sustainability Hub. Suppliers submit information during a Project Gigaton reporting season; figures reported are for the reporting season that took place during the corresponding fiscal year.

2. Because Walmart does not restrict suppliers to reporting only on emissions avoidance and reduction efforts that are attributable to the suppliers’ business with Walmart, actions taken and reported through Project Gigaton cannot be used to measure Walmart’s Scope 3 emissions, either absolutely or in year-over-year reductions.

3. The U.S. product net sales figure used for the calculation includes Walmart U.S. and Sam’s Club product net sales for the previous four quarters (Q3 through Q2) prior to the start of the survey reporting window. The percentage represents U.S. product net sales of suppliers that reported to Project Gigaton in the reporting year versus all U.S. product net sales. The calculation excludes Walmart International segment product net sales from the calculation.

4. Calculations include all private brand plastic packaging and single-use plastic and reusable bags globally. For the time frame of the private brands packaging survey, we instructed suppliers to use their latest or most recent 12-month period for which they have data available. If they reported last year, use the same reporting period as the initial/prior reporting year to avoid gaps or overlap with the prior year’s submissions. "North America" refers to our businesses in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

5. Packaging metrics are measured in weight and based on supplier reports through a supplier survey. Proxy data were calculated to provide data for suppliers that did not complete the survey or provided unusable data. Proxy data are meant to represent an estimate of how much packaging those suppliers / markets may utilize to provide an overall picture of Walmart’s entire packaging footprint. The calculation is based on supplier participation in the survey as a percentage of net sales and known packaging data. Walmart private brand suppliers representing 78% of Walmart global private brand net sales reported packaging data in 2020; in 2021 the figure was 80% and in 2022 the figure was 89%.

6. Walmart divested its business in Argentina in 2020 and its businesses in the U.K. and Japan in 2021. Because of the sale of Walmart’s Argentina business in late 2020, we were unable to capture sufficient packaging data for the Argentina market; to represent this market’s business in 2020, we used the 2018-2019 private brand packaging survey for Argentina. Walmart divested its businesses in the U.K. and Japan in early 2021; because the businesses were divested early in the year, we did not proxy packaging data for the time Walmart owned those businesses and the 2021 packaging figures represented here do not include the U.K. or Japan.

7. Calculations include all private brand plastic packaging and single-use plastic and reusable bags in North America. For the time frame of the private brands packaging survey, we instructed suppliers to use their latest or most recent 12-month period for which they have data available. If they reported last year, use the same reporting period as the initial/prior reporting year to avoid gaps or overlap with the prior year’s submissions. "North America" refers to our businesses in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

8. Calculations include all private brand plastic packaging and single-use plastic and reusable bags globally. For the time frame of the private brands packaging survey, we instructed suppliers to use their latest or most recent 12-month period for which they have data available. If they reported last year, use the same reporting period as the initial/prior reporting year to avoid gaps or overlap with the prior year’s submissions. "Global" refers to all of our global retail businesses.

9. Based on average household access to materials management facilities. The 2020 and 2021 calculations follow the 2021 Reporting Guidelines for The New Plastics Global Commitment, and includes all private brand primary, secondary, and tertiary plastic packaging, including single-use plastic and reusable plastic bags globally. For the time frame of the private brands packaging survey, we instructed suppliers to use their latest or most recent 12-month period for which they have data available. If they reported last year, use the same reporting period as the initial/prior reporting year to avoid gaps or overlap with the prior year’s submissions. For suppliers that did not complete the survey or provided unusable data, proxy data was substituted to provide a full estimate of global private brand packaging. For the proxy calculation, a market level approach was used.

10. How2Recycle is the leading product packaging labeling system, aiming to increase transparency, educate consumers, and improve recycling behavior and rates. Used by major U.S. retailers and consumer packaged goods companies, including Walmart, it provides standardized labeling based on applicable laws, technical recyclability, and the availability of curbside and drop-off recycling programs. The program's labels are backed by nationally harmonized data and are designed to adapt to evolving U.S. Federal and State legislation.

11. How2Recycle is the leading product packaging labeling system, aiming to increase transparency, educate consumers, and improve recycling behavior and rates. Used by major U.S. retailers and consumer packaged goods companies, including Walmart, it provides standardized labeling based on applicable laws, technical recyclability, and the availability of curbside and drop-off recycling programs. The program's labels are backed by nationally harmonized data and are designed to adapt to evolving U.S. Federal and State legislation.

12. Results are based on supplier survey responses. FY2022 results are based on reports from suppliers that represented 97.7% of Walmart U.S. private brand apparel net sales and 94.4% of Walmart U.S. home textiles net sales; for Sam's Club, participation rates were 91.8% and 93.8% for private brand apparel and home textiles, respectively; and for Canada, participation rates were 88.2% and 92.7% for private brand apparel and home textiles, respectively. FY2023 results are based on reports from suppliers that represented 90.2% of Walmart U.S. private brand apparel net sales and 95.5% of Walmart U.S. home textiles net sales; for Sam's Club, participation rates were 93.9% and 98.1% for private brand apparel and home textiles, respectively; and for Canada, participation rates were 88.6% and 93.7% for private brand apparel and home textiles, respectively. For FY2024,  results are based on reports from suppliers that represented 92% of Walmart U.S. Sales; for Sam’s Club this figure was 88% and for Walmart Canada this figure was 89%. FY2023 results are calculated as a percentage of supplier reported data. FY2023 results do not include estimated results of non-reporting suppliers. Reporting for years prior to FY2023 included the estimated results of non-reporting suppliers.

13. Walmart Canada recycled polyester was previously reported as 67%. During our FY2023 quality assurance review for our FY2022 comparative period, we identified a calculation error in our Walmart Canada data and have restated our reporting to correct this error.

14. Based on RBA membership (regular or full category) or implementing the RBA Validated Assessment Program for each disclosed facility.

15. Walmart measures the total volume of priority chemicals in products subject to Walmart’s Sustainable Chemistry Commitment by screening product formulations reported to UL WERCSmart by our suppliers. To learn more about our formulation disclosure requirements, please visit “Section 2: Transparency” of our Sustainable Chemistry Implementation Guide.

16. Acres reported here are comprised of (a) acres of land engaged in more sustainable management in the production of priority commodities, as reported by suppliers, (b) acres of land protected and/or restored, as reported by suppliers, (c) total acres of land conserved through our Acres for America program, and (d) acres more sustainably managed, protected, and/or restored through Walmart Foundation grants, as reported by grantees. For (a), suppliers typically report commodity volumes/practices through Project Gigaton, which are converted to acres (where necessary) using spatial factors found in our Project Gigaton accounting methodology (see “Nature pillar table: Spatial conversion factors” on pages 60-62). For additional information on sustainable management practices by commodity, please refer to our individual commodity reports (linked from the “Fostering More Sustainable Production of Commodities” section below). 

17. Square miles reported here are comprised of (a) square miles of ocean engaged in more sustainable management in seafood commodities, as reported by suppliers, and (b) square miles of ocean protected and/or restored, as reported by suppliers. For (a) above, where suppliers report seafood volumes through Sustainable Fisheries Partnership’s Seafood Metrics Platform, the volumes are converted to square miles using spatial factors found in our Project Gigaton accounting methodology (see “Nature pillar table: Spatial conversion factors” on pages 62-63). For additional information on sustainable management practices by commodity, please refer to our individual commodity reports (linked from the “Fostering More Sustainable Production of Commodities” section below).

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