Last year (July 16, 2009), Wal-Mart President and CEO Mike Duke announced the creation of a worldwide sustainability index. The intent is to develop the sustainability index over a period of time. The final goal is to implement product labels that clearly rate the environmental and sustainable aspects of the product. As a first phase, Wal-Mart is engaged in assessing supplier's sustainability efforts in the areas of energy and climate, natural resources, material efficiency, and people and community. In the second phase a sustainability consortium is going to be created that will work with retailers, suppliers, nongovernmental organizations, and the government to create a global database of information on the life cycle of products.
Source: Stokes, S. and Dooley, K. 2009. Wal-Mart's sustainability index. Inside Supply Management, October 2009.