When it comes to sustainability, the US retail giant Walmart is employing its Boy Scout mantra – ‘to leave it better than you found it.’

This was the underlying message delivered by the team’s senior director of responsible sourcing, Marco Reyes, when he joined the Licensing International platform to take part in a special Sustainability Spotlight earlier this week.

In conversation with Licensing International’s Michelle McLaughlin and Maura Regan, Marco presented Walmart’s global ambitions and its ‘trickle-down’ strategy to a wider network of partner vendors and IP holders. It’s all part of Walmart’s ongoing Project Gigaton, an initiative created by the retailer back in 2017 to engage suppliers in climate action, along with NGOs and other stakeholders on its mission to reduce or avoid one billion metric tonnes of greenhouse gasses from the global value chain by 2030.

“What you do now may tip the scales,” Marco told audience members during the discussion aimed at encouraging Walmart’s vendors to ‘look to the future to solve their merchant’s problems’ to avoid “getting left behind.”

Aligned with the Paris Agreement’s original 2-degree Celsius warming scenario and designed in consultation with the World Wildlife Fund, Environmental Defence Fund, and CPD, Project Gigaton’s success would ‘represent a substantial reduction of Scope 3 emissions within Walmart’s and our suppliers’ value chains.’

The retailer has been calling on partners to join it in taking science-based, measurable action to reduce emissions across six areas critical to reaching zero emissions: energy use, nature, waste, packaging, transportation, and product use and design.

To date, more than 4,500 suppliers have formally signed up to Project Gigaton, making it one of the largest private sector consortiums for climate action. Read more on the company’s campaign by clicking here.

Licensing International’s discussion concluded with one last call to action from Marco, who urged global partner to “skate where you want the puck to go,” an apt reference for a US audience who have faced – in various states across the USA – some icy and snowy terrain this past week.

Thank you to Licensing International for hosting this important conversation this week and for giving Product of Change airtime. All Licensing International members can receive a 10% discount on Products of Change members, checkout code LI2023.