Walmart

Lobbying and advocacy
The company discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member.

Stakeholder engagement
The company discloses an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities and states the channels it uses to engage with its stakeholder groups. Furthermore, the company’s stakeholder engagement covers nature, nutrition, and social issues.

Sustainable development strategy
The company discloses its process for identifying and prioritising its most relevant sustainability impacts as well as the outcome of this process, in relation to its sustainability strategy.

Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
The company has set a target to reduce its absolute global scopes 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 35% by 2025 and 65% by 2030, from the 2015 baseline year. Progress against these scope 1 and 2 emissions targets is reported by the company. Targets are in line with a 1.5-degree trajectory. Furthermore, the company also takes steps to reduce its scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions. As part of its Project Gigaton, the company aims to reduce or avoid one billion metric tons (MT) of scope 3 CO2e emissions by 2030. Progress against these scope 3 targets is also reported by the company.

Ecosystem conversion
The company discloses some activities to achieve conversion-free supply chains and the proportion of high-risk commodities which are conversion-free.

Food loss and waste
Between 2021 and 2022, the company reported a decrease in the amount of food loss and waste (FLW) it generated. The company not only discloses its FLW reduction targets but also provides regular reports on its progress toward these targets. These FLW reduction targets align with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3, which aims to achieve a 50% reduction in FLW by 2030. Additionally, the company actively collaborates with its value chain partners to prevent the generation of FLW.

Plastic use and packaging waste
The company shows its commitment by implementing policies and engaging in activities that aim to reduce plastic use and transition towards sustainable packaging. Furthermore, it discloses quantitative data on its efforts to reduce plastic use and increase the usage of sustainable packaging.

Food safety
The company provides evidence that 100% of its own operations are certified to a Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI)-recognised food safety scheme. Additionally, the company has established the Global Markets (GM) Programme to assist small and developing suppliers in markets where GFSI adoption does not meet the company’s standards. This program helps suppliers through assessments and requires them to commit to achieving full certification within two years. Furthermore, suppliers enrolled in the GM Programme receive additional support such as training workshops and access to resources.

Child labour
The company verifies the age of workers recruited in its own operations.

Forced labour
The company discloses a prohibition to use any recruitment fees or related costs to secure a job, to retain workers’ personal documents and to restrict workers’ freedom of movement for its operations and supply chain.

Act ethically
The company has issued a publicly available policy statement that prohibits bribery and corruption and incorporates anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships. Furthermore, it has established a grievance mechanism for stakeholder complaints.

The company identifies bribery and corruption risks through its risk-based Global Anti-Corruption Program, designed to prevent, detect, and remediate bribery and recordkeeping violations in its operations worldwide. A senior executive, responsible for compliance programs, is mandated to regularly reports to the Audit Committee. Additionally, the company has made a public commitment to protect personal data.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has a publicly available statement of policy that expects its business relationships to commit to respecting the health and safety of their workers and discloses how it monitors suppliers’ compliance. Furthermore, it reports the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by gender and by race or ethnicity.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights, along with a human rights grievance mechanism accessible to all workers and all external stakeholders.

Furthermore, it discloses the results of its human rights risk assessments and provides several examples of initiatives undertaken by both the company and its foundation to combat forced labour and promote responsible recruitment. Additionally, it shares examples of its engagement with stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities in the last two years.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
The company discloses a remuneration policy related to sustainability performance but can further link this policy to enhancements in nature-related objectives and social issues. Furthermore, there is an opportunity for the company to disclose whether its highest governance body has specific expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics.

Lobbying and advocacy
The company has an opportunity to report (potential) misalignments between the lobbying activities of its trade associations and its sustainability targets.

Sustainable development strategy
The company discloses certain sustainability objectives, including those related to climate and biodiversity. However, there is an opportunity to establish group-wide targets for the most material parts of its value chain. While the company reports on some of their targets, including those related to climate and biodiversity, there is an opportunity to report consistently across all its targets.

Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
The company’s scope 3 targets are currently in line with a 2°C trajectory, but there is also an opportunity for the company to align its targets with a more ambitious 1.5-degree trajectory.

Ecosystem conversion
While the company discloses some time-bound commitments to achieve conversion-free supply chains, it has an opportunity to extend its commitment to all of its high-risk commodities.

Water withdrawal
The company has an opportunity to enhance its disclosures relating to water use and withdrawal in its own operations and supply chain.

Availability of nutritious foods
There is potential for the company to improve its reporting on overall efforts to reduce sugar, salt, and fat, and/or increase the presence of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains in its entire portfolio. The company currently discloses its use of a nutrition icon called ‘Great For You,’ which includes nutrition criteria and limits for total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, sodium, and added sugars, helping consumers identify healthier choices. However, the company has an opportunity to clarify how its nutrition criteria align with government-endorsed or externally validated nutrient profiling systems. Additionally, the company could establish sales-based targets aimed at increasing the percentage of more nutritious products.

Food safety
The company has an opportunity to disclose the percentage of food suppliers certified to a GFSI-recognised food safety scheme.

Responsible marketing
The company has an opportunity to disclose its commitment to responsible marketing and its marketing activities to promote healthy food options.

Child labour
The company has an opportunity to disclose examples of remediation programmes when a case of child labour is found in its operations and to indicate how it is building the capacity of its suppliers to prevent child labour impacts. While the company prohibits its suppliers from using child labour, it could require them to have an age-verification system in place.

Forced labour
The company has an opportunity to indicate how it is building the capacity of its suppliers to prevent forced labour impacts.

Living wage
The company has an opportunity to set a target for paying a living wage across its direct suppliers and describe how it determines a living wage for the regions where it sources. Also, it could disclose the percentage of workers across its own operations or suppliers that are paid a living wage.

Act ethically
The company has a public statement setting out its lobbying and political engagement approach; however, it has an opportunity to formalise this approach in a public policy document. Moreover, it could establish a policy statement that emphasises its non-participation in political contributions, or alternatively, disclose criteria to make an exception. Additionally, it has an opportunity to transparently disclose lobbying expenditures for each jurisdiction and specifies the localities where it engages in lobbying activities.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has an opportunity to strengthen its commitment to its operations workers’ health and safety by formalising it into a public policy document. Additionally, it could set a time-bound target for ensuring all workers receive a living wage and describes the living wage determination methodology in regions where it operates. While it has set expectations on the wage paid by its suppliers, it has an opportunity to add a requirement for them to pay a living wage, and disclose strategies to support the payment.

Furthermore, it could translate its commitment statements to gender equality and women’s empowerment in a public policy document and disclose a related time-bound target. It could also disclose that it has at least 30% women on the Board of Directors.

Respect human rights
The company has an opportunity to strengthen its commitment to respecting the rights of its operations and supply chain workers by referencing all the ILO fundamental rights at work and ensuring their applicability across all contexts and locations.

Additionally, the company could provide more details on its process for identifying human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities, covering both its own operations and supply chain.

While the company discloses its salient human rights issues, there is an opportunity to more clearly articulate the process for assessing the saliency of these risks. The company could also establish a global system to act on, prevent, or mitigate its salient human rights issues.