Walmart Supplier Seeks Carbon Accountant
Let’s say you have a clothing company that supplies Walmart.
They’ve hinted for years that they are about to demand sustainably produced merchandise. And last week they announced it: Walmart’s new Sustainability Index.
Governments have been unable to change the world. But the planet’s shopkeeper is just so much more powerful.
Oh dear, you say. We can’t lose Walmart. Let’s answer the first question. 1. What is your carbon footprint?
Well, um…gee.
Let’s start with that one handbag we sell to Walmart: We make the handbag parts in 3 factories in 2 continents and an island. We receive the raw materials for the handbag…
1. by camel to that little handbag clasp factory outside Calcutta (5 miles X 120 days per year; camel eats 356,794 pounds of grain shipped by diesel ship 254,998 miles = carbon cost of 2 tons per year for inbound shipping costs),
2. by UPS to a factory in a business park in Seattle (2,900 miles X 340 days per year; using 57% diesel-hybrid trucks = inbound shipping carbon cost of 34 tons per year )
3. by airfreight to a little factory on Tuvalu (whatever…you get the idea)
and then we ship the finished product 3,900,798 miles by ship powered by… (and so on…)
