Walmart integrates TSC’s Knowledge Products to guide supply chain engagement

TEMPE, Ariz,- April 20, 2012 – During its annual Global Sustainability Milestone Meeting on April 18th, Walmart announced that it is integrating the knowledge products produced by The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) into the retailer’s Sustainability Index and Live Better Scorecard. Walmart will use these tools to help its merchants evaluate suppliers and their products and collaborate to make the products on Walmart shelves more sustainable.

Walmart representatives expressed that they are particularly excited about integrating TSC’s Category Sustainability Profiles (CSPs) and corresponding Key Performance Indicators into their Sustainability Index this year. Both Walmart and Sam’s Club will be using these tools as a basis for ranking suppliers in a particular category according to their sustainability progress and to inform buyers about actionable opportunities for improvement.

Linda Hefner, EVP of Merchandising for Sam’s Club, says that using The Consortium’s CSPs can “further the collaboration with suppliers to make more progress…with some meaningful measure behind them.”

A Category Sustainability Profile (CSP) is a summary of the best available, credible, and actionable knowledge about the sustainability aspects related to a product over its entire life cycle. CSPs are developed and managed by The Sustainability Consortium, which is currently finalizing the first 22 Category Sustainability Profiles for its members. This will help some of the world’s largest companies prioritize and focus their sustainability efforts on the most pressing issues in those product categories. Some of the categories include; beef, milk, plastic toys, computers, laundry detergent, televisions, toilet tissue, packaged cereal, copy paper, bread, surface cleaners, showering products, farmed salmon, printers, beer, and wine. TSC plans to release additional CSPs that cover a vast range of products to its members before the end of the year.

“(Walmart) is working to improve the sustainability of the products our customers love. Providing our merchants with simple tools to identify leaders and laggards, and giving them actionable recommendations for what they can do to drive improvements, will help us accelerate and deepen our impact on consumer goods sustainability,” says Andrea Thomas, Senior VP, Sustainability at Walmart.

Kevin Dooley, Academic Director at The Sustainability Consortium, comments, "I was very excited to see Walmart talking about the product sustainability scorecard in Walmart’s Global Milestone Meeting, as I know the hard work that researchers and stakeholders have done to convert vision to reality.  We look forward to facilitating positive change in the product categories that we will cover by the end of 2012, and the products we will additionally cover in 2013 and beyond."

Walmart’s Global Sustainability Milestone Meeting can be viewed in its entirety at http://www.sustainabilityconsortium.org/walmartlive/.

About The Sustainability Consortium

The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) is an independent organization of diverse global participants that work collaboratively to build a scientific foundation that drives innovation to improve consumer product sustainability. TSC develops transparent methodologies, tools, and strategies to drive a new generation of products and supply networks that address environmental, social, and economic imperatives. The Sustainability Consortium advocates for a credible, scalable, and transparent process and system. The organization boasts over 75 members from all corners of business employing over 57 million people and whose combined revenues total over $1.5 Trillion. Arizona State University and the University of Arkansas jointly administer The Sustainability Consortium, with additional operations at Wageningen University in The Netherlands. Learn more at www.sustainabilityconsortium.org / Twitter: follow @TSC_news http://twitter.com/tsc_news

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Media Contacts:

Elizabeth Kessler, Marketing Coordinator

The Sustainability Consortium

Arizona State University

Elizabeth.Kessler.1@asu.edu | 480.965.3810