Wal-Mart, which has been venturing into environmentally sustainable products and business methods for the last few years, is about to announce its most ambitious effort yet on that front. And it wants the nation’s other retailers to take part.

The company is expected on Thursday to announce the creation of an electronic indexing system meant eventually to help Wal-Mart and other retailers determine the social and environmental impact of every product they place on their shelves.

“I never thought I would be working with Wal-Mart a few years back,” said Jay S. Golden, a professor in the Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University. But, he said, “we are thrilled that Wal-Mart is taking a leadership role because they can move more companies toward this than any government can do.”

Read the complete article here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/business/energy-environment/16walmart.html?_r=2&src=twt&twt=nytimesbusiness and here is another version:

http://www.thebigmoney.com/articles/judgments/2009/07/13/wal-mart-become-green-umpire

Our opinion:

A very interesting and important move by Wal-Mart. If this is going to be a successful move to drive Wal-Mart as a responsible business forward then this could mean that all retailers need to do this as well. And this would be a great leap forward for the whole sector.

Picture Credit: ratterell