This week, we hosted a webinar featuring Walmart on Project Gigaton, an ambitious effort on their part to work with suppliers to slash a gigaton of emissions from their supply chain by 2030--an amount equivalent to Germany's annual emissions. 

This goal is an important precedent from the world's largest retailer, not least because the majority of corporate emissions lie in the supply chains. In fact, supply chain emissions are four times larger, on average, than that of companies' direct operations.(1) 

For Walmart, clear road-mapping toward goals, low levels of prescriptiveness in goal-setting, and a commitment to providing onramps for everyone meeting suppliers where they are have been key components to Project Gigaton's success. They're also focusing on encouraging SMART goals and on spotlighting and celebrating companies that participate every chance they get.

But supplier engagement isn't easy, and collaboration and partnerships can make it a lot more doable. For companies looking to go deeper in engaging their supply chain, our resources page is a great place to start, and we have great examples of companies in our network working to reduce their upstream impacts. Our project partner SFTA offers deeper and more specific guidance for companies looking to start using supply chain questionnaires.

We also hope you'll also encourage your suppliers to use the Climate Collaborative as a roadmap for action, and to make a public commitment that will give them an onramp to free resources, recognition, and collaborative opportunities. Hearing from corporate customers is one of the most powerful incentives to spur broader action in the industry. We've even drafted this letter to share with your suppliers asking them to join you in making a forward-looking commitment on climate.

Please let us know what else you need, and how we can help advance your supply chain goals. Email us at [email protected] with your ideas and questions.

The Climate Collaborative template invitation for peers and suppliers to take action: 

We are a group of companies and CEOs from the natural products industry working collaboratively within and across our companies to take bold action to reverse climate change. We are asking you to join us by making a public commitment to climate action.

Make your commitment to climate action public.

Nearly 400 companies across our industry have joined this movement so far, and we hope you will be the next in line.

Through the Climate Collaborative, we are joining forces to create pathways to action, connecting companies to resources and working together to create solutions. We shine a light on success stories and recognize companies for their great climate work which in turn inspires more companies to act.

We’re turning up the heat to challenge our peers, including you, to up their climate game, because we recognize that climate change is here now, and we need to act together to reverse it.

Blazing a new path is not easy. But the effects of climate change are more visible than ever before, and already affecting our companies, their supply chains, and the communities in which they operate.

While climate change is one of the biggest risks ever to face humankind, it’s also one of our greatest opportunities. Solving the climate crisis will make our businesses stronger and our communities and families safer. It will unleash a new wave of innovation and improve our quality of life.

We are an industry of innovators. Our consumers expect us to lead, and we have the opportunity to go farther together to reverse climate change than any of us have gone before. Collaborating to create scale and momentum, we can drive the change that must happen to create a stronger more resilient industry--and a better future for all.

Working together we will.

Join us and make your commitment to action.