Wal-Mart To Push Suppliers On Energy Efficiency

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc has formed a partnership with the Carbon Disclosure Project to look for ways for its suppliers to better manage their energy efficiency, as part of its environmental push, the company said on Monday.

Under the partnership with the not-for-profit organization, which collects greenhouse gas emissions data from large companies, Wal-Mart will measure the amount of energy used throughout its supply chain, and use the method on a group of its suppliers to look for ways to make procurement, manufacturing and distribution more energy efficient.

The world's largest retailer said it will kick-start the plan with a pilot group of seven commonly used products: DVDs, toothpaste, soap, milk, beer, vacuum cleaners and soda.

Suppliers will be encouraged to monitor and manage their greenhouse gas emissions and reduce Wal-Mart's "total carbon footprint, John Fleming, Wal-Mart's chief merchandising officer, said in a statement.

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"This is an important first step toward reaching our goal of removing nonrenewable energy from products that Wal-Mart sells," Fleming said.

Wal-Mart, under the Sustainability 360 plan, which it unveiled earlier this year, has set a goal of one day using only renewable energy and creating no waste, challenging its suppliers, customers and employees to do the same.

As part of the plan, it has constructed experimental stores to test ways to conserve water or electricity, and will ask its electronics suppliers to fill a scorecard to evaluate their products based on energy efficiency and durability, starting next year.

(Reporting by Aarthi Sivaraman and Justin Grant)