Green Options

When WalMart finally unveiled their new Sustainability Index, I found the 15 questions a bit underwhelming. Especially, after all the press and fuss (you can download the questions from the WalMart web site).

For example, the first question, “Have you measured your corporate greenhouse gas emissions?” is so simplistic, that a yes answer could mean many things. Scope 1? Scope 2? Have they taken on the challenge of addressing the full supply chain?

GreenBiz.com offers some advice for getting the most out of the questions, if you are a Walmart supplier that is just beginning to think about environmental issues.

Though being green is all the rage in the US, one needs to look beyond our borders…well beyond, to find countries in which consumers act truly green. Not surprisingly, those consumers in the developing world, impacted the most by environmentally harmful behavior, tend to be the greenest.

The recently completed National Geographic/GlobeScan “Consumer Greendex,” rather than measuring the overall “greenness” of each nation looks specifically at consumer behavior and tells a different story than that of traditional measurements of sustainability by country.

The US, still doesn’t fare very well

The findings show that consumers in Brazil and India tie for the highest Greendex score for environmentally sustainable consumption at 60 points each. They are followed by consumers in China (56.1), Mexico (54.3), Hungary (53.2) and Russia (52.4). Among consumers in wealthy countries, those in Great Britain, Germany and Australia each have a Greendex score of 50.2, those in Spain register a score of 50.0 and Japanese respondents 49.1. U.S. consumers have the lowest Greendex score at 44.9. The other lowest-scoring consumers are Canadians with 48.5 and the French with 48.7.