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Wal-Mart Canada Commits to Making a Difference in its Second Corporate Social Responsibility Report

Wal-Mart Canada Commits to Making a Difference in its Second Corporate Social Responsibility Report

Published 09-25-08

Submitted by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Mississauga, Ontario. September 25, 2008 - Wal-Mart Canada today released its second Corporate Social Responsibility Report (CSR Report), highlighting the company's commitment to more transparency and to putting its social responsibility action into words. The CSR Report covers fiscal year 2007 and outlines areas of interest to the company's many stakeholders including environmental sustainability, ethical sourcing, community involvement and investment and people.

"There's a Wal-Mart people see every day - a company saving people money so they can live better - and a Wal-Mart with which they may be less familiar," said David Cheesewright, President and CEO of Wal-Mart Canada. "Our CSR Report outlines the less familiar story of a company making positive strides in environmental sustainability, community involvement and investment, global sourcing and as an employer."

For the first time, and with the help of the non-profit CSR consultancy Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR), Wal-Mart Canada has included key performance indicators (KPIs) in its CSR Report. KPIs will help the company provide greater transparency to stakeholders and will allow it to continually measure, observe and analyze CSR performance.

In another first, Wal-Mart Canada initiated an open and proactive dialogue with a range of external stakeholders as it developed the report, ranging from environmental groups to labour watchdogs, to gain insight on how the company could improve its performance and be more transparent with its reporting.

"We've opened ourselves to review by external stakeholders and even critics because, while we continue to make progress on our CSR objectives, we realize we can improve and benefit from feedback covering many perspectives," added Cheesewright.

Highlights of Wal-Mart Canada's 2007 corporate social responsibility report include:

Environment

Wal-Mart Canada is aggressively pursuing its long-term sustainability goals: to be supplied by 100 per cent renewable energy; to produce zero waste; and to sell merchandise that sustains resources and the environment.

The company made several notable strides in 2007 including the expansion of its waste diversion program to include additional types of plastics. As a result of Wal-Mart Canada's multi-stream recycling program, the company was able to divert more than 100,000,000 kilograms of waste from landfill.

Given that 92 per cent of the company's waste is the result of product packaging, Wal-Mart Canada established new criteria to assess suppliers and supply chain partners on the basis of their environmental efforts, impact and improvement. In addition, suppliers were invited to participate in two sustainable packaging expos, in conjunction with the Packaging Association of Canada, where they were educated on new sustainable packaging materials, technologies, designs and alternatives. Wal-Mart Canada is on the verge of rolling out its new packaging scorecard, a roadmap designed to help suppliers reduce their individual packaging.

At the store level, the company installed the latest high-efficiency heating, ventilation, air conditioning, insulation and lighting systems in new prototype stores, making them 20 to 30 per cent more energy efficient than the Canadian average for non-food retail outlets. Wal-Mart Canada also introduced more than 300 environmentally preferable products to its customers.

Global Sourcing

Wal-Mart has one of the most active ethical sourcing programs in the retail industry. Though the company does not own its own factories, it ensures suppliers comply with rigorous ethical sourcing standards through training and auditing processes.

In 2007, Wal-Mart's Ethical Standards auditors conducted a total of 1,594 audits on 1,062 factories (that provide products both directly and indirectly to Wal-Mart Canada) in an ongoing effort to bring suppliers into compliance with the highest ethical sourcing standards.

In 2007, the company also added new environmental criteria to its supplier standards, covering waste identification, handling and disposal, wastewater treatment and discharge of air emissions, as well as banned substances.

People

Despite a challenging economy, Wal-Mart Canada kept associate wages above minimum wage in all provinces and paid a record $45.4 million in bonuses to eligible hourly associates - an average bonus of $1,000 per eligible recipient.

Wal-Mart Canada introduced a new diversity program to promote a stronger culture of inclusion and introduced several initiatives to promote women into leadership roles. One of the latter programs is a Women in Leadership Group, made up of the company's 35 most senior women, who are helping drive several key initiatives aimed at promoting women into leadership roles.

The company was listed among the nine best employers in Canada for Canadian age 50-plus by the Workplace Institute. The only retailer on the list, the company was recognized for finding interesting and effective ways to engage and retain older workers, including consulting opportunities, special projects and mentorships.

Community Investment and Involvement

One of the most significant ways in which Wal-Mart Canada contributes to Canada is through economic opportunities for people, businesses and communities.

In 2007, Wal-Mart Canada created nearly 5,000 news jobs and paid more than $11 billion to 6,311 Canadian businesses. The company raised and donated more than $18 million for local charities, 26 per cent more than in 2006. Children's Miracle Network, Breakfast Clubs of Canada, the Canadian Red Cross, the Juno Beach Centre and the Salvation Army were just a few of the many organizations that received charitable donations from Wal-Mart Canada.

Through the Wal-Mart Canada scholarships program, the company awarded 81 scholarships, valued at $115,000 in total, to Canadian students heading to college or university.

"In order to ensure the continued success of our business for tomorrow, we recognize the need to manage our social, environmental and ethical performance to the same extent that we manage our financial performance," added Cheesewright. "That change in mindset is continually top-of-mind in how we do business and at all levels of the company."

Wal-Mart Canada's 2007 Corporate Social Responsibility Report is available online at https://www.walmart.ca/wps-portal/microsite/CorpVal/index.jsp

About Wal-Mart Canada

Headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Wal-Mart Canada operates 310 retail outlets nationwide. The company serves more than one million Canadians each day and is one of the country's largest employers with more than 77,000 Canadian associates.

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Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) helps people around the world save money and live better – anytime and anywhere – in retail stores, online, and through their mobile devices. Each week, more than 200 million customers and members visit our 10,700 stores under 69 banners in 27 countries and e-commerce websites in 10 countries. With fiscal year 2013 sales of approximately $466 billion, Walmart employs more than 2.2 million associates worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity. Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting corporate.walmart.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/walmart and on Twitter at twitter.com/walmartgreen. Online merchandise sales are available at www.walmart.com and www.samsclub.com.

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