Walmart pushes back climate change targets

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Walmart has said it is likely to miss a target it set to reduce planet-warming emissions by the end of the decade, blaming obstacles in energy policy, infrastructure and the availability of low-carbon technologies.

The US-based retailer is the world’s largest company by revenue, making it an influential corporate leader, but joins a range companies to have acknowledged they cannot meet their pledges.

Walmart promised to cut greenhouse gas emissions from its own operations by 35 per cent in 2025 and 65 per cent in 2030, compared with the levels in 2015. But in an update published this week, Walmart said neither date appeared to be in reach and its progress was delayed.

“We anticipate achieving our near- and midterm emissions reduction targets later than our 2025 and 2030 target dates,” Walmart said, adding that it would consider revising the goals next year.

Late last year, Walmart said it would not meet its 2025 emissions goal but at the time stood by the 2030 target.

The retailer on Thursday maintained its aim to achieve zero emissions across its global operations by 2040.

Global emissions must fall 43 per cent by the end of the decade to curb global warming to no more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, a goal set down in the Paris accord in 2015 that was signed by almost 200 countries.

The retailer has acknowledged the direct risks to its business from climate change. This year it set up emergency relief operations in store parking lots after hurricanes Helene and Milton devastated communities in the US south-east this year. Scientists say global warming added to the storms’ destructive power, as the hotter atmosphere holds more water vapour.

But Walmart’s business has been expanding, adding to the difficulty of reducing emissions as new stores open and more goods are shipped by the retailer.

Global revenue grew by 6 per cent to $648bn in the year to January 2024. Operating emissions rose in 2023 by a lower rate of 3.9 per cent to 15.1mn tonnes.

Walmart also cited three drivers of the emissions rise. Pollution from refrigerants used to chill food and in air-conditioning rose by 5.3 per cent year on year, largely because of leaks from ageing equipment in the US and Mexico.

Transport fuel emissions rose 10 per cent in 2023 as Walmart’s US trucking fleet expanded and took on more business from third-party carriers.

Walmart said it supplied 48 per cent of its global electricity needs with renewables in 2023, on track for a target of half by 2025. But purchases of renewable electricity were outpaced by Walmart’s overall business growth.

“We were the first retailer to set a science-based target for emissions reduction, and our aspirational goal remains the same: to get to zero by 2040,” Kathleen McLaughlin, Walmart’s chief sustainability officer, said in an interview. “We’ve made meaningful progress on all of the emissions sources. And as we’ve stated, the progress won’t be linear.”

Walmart does not have firm targets to reduce “scope 3” emissions, which include those from its supply chain and the customer use of products it sells, and typically make up the bulk of corporate carbon emissions.

The company estimated its scope 3 carbon footprint was up 5.3 per cent at 618.9mn tonnes in 2023 — or more than one and a half times the entire of the UK’s annual emissions.