By Kathleen McLaughlin, Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, Walmart Inc.; President, Walmart Foundation
Published 07-08-21
Submitted by Walmart
Walmart has long taken a shared value, whole-system approach to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Through our ESG strategies, we aim to do more than operate responsibly and mitigate business risk; we want to create value for business by better serving our customers and stakeholders and helping to transform related societal systems (e.g., food systems, workforce development systems) for more equitable and sustainable outcomes. Events of the past year — the COVID-19 pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, rising income inequality and intensifying climate and ecosystem decline — underscore the relevance of our shared value philosophy.
While these events challenged us all, they reinforced our desire to accelerate our omnichannel transformation and commit to becoming a regenerative company — seeking to fulfill our customer mission in a way that restores, renews and replenishes nature and humanity.
This year, our ESG reporting includes a series of briefs covering Walmart’s priority ESG issues in a new, “living” digital format as well as our FY21 ESG summary and data tables. The briefs will be refreshed online periodically, providing our stakeholders with timely information. We have updated our list of priority issues based on recent stakeholder engagement, reflecting stakeholder expectations, relevance to our business, and Walmart’s ability to make a difference in four broad themes of Opportunity, Sustainability, Community and Ethics & Integrity. Each issue brief articulates Walmart’s ESG impact thesis including disclosures regarding our aspirations for shared value creation, our strategies, key metrics and facts regarding progress (with reference to our public commitments, SASB, TCFD, CDP, GRI and U.N. SDGs) and challenges.
Key highlights include:
The challenges facing business and society require collective action from us all. The pandemic demonstrated how small but widespread changes in individual behavior can produce large-scale, positive effects. We believe businesses can be part of the solution and, as a stakeholder in Walmart, your collaboration on this journey is key to meeting the challenges of our time. We look forward to facilitating positive change, together.
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, nearly 260 million customers and members visit our 11,535 stores under 72 banners in 28 countries and e-commerce websites in 11 countries. With fiscal year 2016 revenue of $482.1 billion, Walmart employs approximately 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 http://corporate.walmart.com, on Facebook at http://facebook.com/walmart and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/walmart.
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