ICCR Issues Statement on Wal-Mart's Sustainability Report

NEW YORK, NY///November16, 2007///Today, members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility issued the following statement in response to Wal-Mart's release of its new report on corporate sustainability.

On November 15, 2007, Wal-Mart released its first corporate Sustainability Report. Since the early 1990s, members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) have been addressing key sustainability concerns with Wal-Mart, including equal economic opportunity, glass ceiling, supply chain standards, worker rights, wages and benefits, health care, the environment and impacts on local communities.

ICCR members have consistently raised questions about Wal-Mart's business model and the need for a clear and a comprehensive approach to sustainability in its operations. We have put forth a belief that a comprehensive sustainability emphasis is not only good for its employees and the people making Wal-Mart products in its supply chain, but also the overall future economic health of the company. As faith-based members, we have participated in dialogues on the development of this first Sustainability Report, urging clear policies, procedures and benchmarks to measure progress. This Report is a beginning effort in response to ICCR's filing of a shareholder resolution for three years requesting the issuance of a public sustainability report.

We welcome Wal-Mart's Report as a first step. It demonstrates a commitment by the Company to both develop internal mechanisms for implementation and to be transparent with respect to its sustainability initiatives.

It is clear that this first Report demonstrates progress particularly toward the environmental goals that President and CEO Lee Scott articulated two years ago. We recognize that collecting information on key indicators for environmental goals is less difficult than attending to social performance indicators, but without social indicators, the Report pales.

Attempts at disclosure on critical social areas in the Report, such as on employee wages, impacts on local communities and supply chains are disappointing. We do note efforts that the Company has taken to be responsive to Associates' need for health care coverage, yet so much more needs to be done. The Report is totally lacking in clear performance goals and metrics on social goals that will enable stakeholders to evaluate Wal-Mart's progress from year to year.

ICCR members will continue to press Wal-Mart to improve its social and environmental performance going forward and expect that annual updates will show progress on human rights and other critical social issues. We encourage the Company to work with all stakeholders to improve its sustainability programs and performance.

We believe Wal-Mart, the largest company in the world, with tremendous capabilities for influencing social, environmental and economic change, must implement sustainability efforts that meet the needs of both its business and the human community.

 

 

 

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