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chemical giant Bayer as well as Cargill, Kellogg, He noted CEO Doug McMillon said the com-
PepsiCo, Unilever and three environmental pany was going to meet the carbon-neutral
groups, the Environmental Defense Fund, The pledge through emissions reductions made by its
Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund. suppliers. “So it’s going to be a top-down push,”
Kaysen said.
The MRCC is currently in the process of devel-
oping policy groups that members can agree on So far, Walmart has made little progress in getting
and use to guide their own lobbying efforts. its agriculture suppliers to reduce emissions.
According to the company’s 2020 progress report,
Industry’s ‘Gigaton’ gorilla agriculture accounted for just 1.6 million tons
doubles down of the 136 million tons of emissions reductions
made by Walmart suppliers in 2019. (The largest
Industry officials tell Agri-Pulse that a single com- emissions reduction among Walmart suppliers,
pany, Walmart, is driving much of the effort to about 66 million tons, was the result of reduced
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, pushing food energy usage.)
and beverage companies as well as key clothing But Tina Owens, senior director of food and
manufacturers to reduce U.S. agriculture’s envi- agriculture impact for Danone North America,
ronmental footprint across the supply chain.
said Walmart’s commitments are trickling down
Walmart launched its Project Gigaton in 2017, to its suppliers. Like many of its other suppliers,
a pledge to cut the greenhouse gas emissions Walmart is Danone’s biggest customer. “It’s not
in its supply chain by a billion tons. “Through just the writing on the wall for our farmers. The
Project Gigaton, suppliers can take their sus- writing is on the wall for everybody,” Owens said.
tainability efforts to the next level through And it’s not just food companies that worry about
goal-setting,” the firm notes. Walmart expects Walmart’s demands. Clothing and textile com-
agriculture to account for 200 million to 300 panies, such as Levi’s, do as well, which means
million tons of that. Walmart’s goals are affecting
cotton growers.

[Emissions .reduction .is] . “When you have one of the
going .to .be .a .top-down . largest retailers in the world,
especially based out of the U.S.,
push . making these corporate goals
—Brett Kaysen, . . like this, it’s not only for their
National .Pork .Board corporation, but their suppli-
ers as well,” said Ken Burton,
executive director of the U.S.
Cotton Trust Protocol, which is
implementing a sustainability
Walmart doubled down on the Project Gigaton improvement program for U.S. producers.
pledge by promising to go carbon neutral by
2040, 10 years ahead of the targets set by the Walmart has taken several steps to encourage farm-
Paris agreement. ers to adopt new practices through projects such as
the Midwest Row Crop Collaborative, which was
“They took Gigaton and put it on steroids from formed with the lofty target of getting half of the
my perspective,” said Brett Kaysen, vice president row crop acres in the Mississippi River Basin imple-
of sustainability for the National Pork Board. menting soil health practices by 2025.

10 www.Agri-Pulse.com