October 29, 2008
Sustainable Indexing
Major retailers Wal-Mart and Tesco have begun efforts to move the business community with their recent efforts to track and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from within and through their vast supply chain network.
With 1.9 million associates worldwide and over 7,000 stores around the world, Wal-Mart is the world’s largest retailer and business entity. Tesco with 2.28 Billion of GBP in profits and 450,000 associates is the second largest global retailer.
Following these business announcements, a bill was introduced by California Assembly member Ruskin called the “Consumer Product Labeling Bill” (#2538) to be added to the State Health and Safety Code.
The development of these supply chain and regulatory mandates is accelerating efforts by major manufacturers to quantify the sustainability of their products. This includes energy and climate, material resources, nature and society throughout the full life cycle which includes: 1) Resource acquisition, 2) Manufacturing 3) Deliver of goods, 4) Distribution and retailing, 5) Consumer use and, 6) Post consumer use.
The National Center of Excellence is working with retailers, manufactures and the supply chain to develop standardized and scientifically grounded Sustainable Indexing with a focus on Energy and Climate.
