Measurement
When Walmart set out to construct its emissions profile, three Scope 1 categories and one Scope 2 category naturally emerged — refrigeration, transportation, on-site fuels, and electricity. The results were striking; electricity represented more than 60% of total Scope 1 and 2 emissions. This provided the clarity and direction needed to prioritize abating emissions from electricity by launching a large-scale renewable energy project. Renewable energy scored highly against other evaluation criteria such as expected financial return, resilience, and reputational benefits, which made it a clear choice for implementation.
Action
To get started, Walmart relied on NGO partners who accelerated the project by endorsing the goal, helping build the case for investment, and providing connections to key partners for implementation, such as the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance. Building the case for financial return helped gain leadership buy-in early, which came in the form of a public CEO commitment to 100% renewable energy and was key for building early momentum. The
Real Estate Team, reporting up to the VP of Energy, then got to work procuring Power Purchasing Agreements (PPA) from off-site wind and solar farms and installing on-site solar on the roofs of stores.
Impact
Walmart reached 36% renewable energy globally in 2020 and is on track to meet its targets of 50% by 2025 and 100% by 2035. As a result, the company has achieved consistent year-over-year reduction in its Scope 2 emissions. The significant emissions reduction gave Walmart’s leadership team the confidence to become the first-ever retailer to set a Science-Based Target, and the company has since updated the target from the 2° Celsius path to be in line with the 1.5° path, an even more ambitious goal. To extend the benefits of the project, Walmart recently rolled it out to its suppliers to provide them with an easy on-ramp for entering the renewable energy market. The program, called Gigaton PPA, will help smaller players coordinate to share a PPA, which are often large contracts, to reduce their emissions which are reported towards Walmart’s larger Project Gigaton goal of reducing one billion metric tons of CO2 e from its Scope 3 emissions by 2030.