By Leo Ryan, AJOT

The Green Shipping concept has been taken to an unprecedented level for a major shipper by retail giant Wal-Mart's Canadian operation: it has announced the introduction of what is called a 'Supply Chain Sustainability Scorecard' for all service providers as of October 1. The bold initiative marks an extension of a company-wide environmental program announced two years ago.

Toronto-based Wal-Mart Canada, which imports heavy volumes of consumer goods by sea, said that the scorecard will assess its service providers on the basis of environmental impact efforts and improvement.

In the coming months, service providers, including ocean shipping lines, trucking firms and railways, will be asked to audit their respective environmental impact related to operations on behalf of Wal-Mart Canada.

'Our new rules for supply chain sustainability will cover everything from fuel use, to facilities and equipment standards, to the overall environmental commitment demonstrated by the companies we hire to ship and store our products,' said Lesley Smith, Wal-Mart Canada's vice-president of supply chain. 'As always, the business case and payback is twofold: a better operation with better environmental effect.'

'Our supply chain activities,' Smith added, 'were already exceeding government and industry gold standards. Together with our suppliers, we've decided we can do better, and we can set new standards.'

The retailer ' which has 290 stores across Canada - met in July with dozens of trucking, rail, warehousing and distribution firms to identify sustainability measures related to logistics and transportation.

'We have been in contact with ocean carriers as well as our other service providers,' Kevin Groh, director of corporate affairs at Wal-Mart Canada, said in an interview. 'The purpose is to establish an environmental footprint related to all aspects of shipping and logistics.'

David Cardin, chief executive of Maersk Canada, Inc., confirmed the preliminary discussions and said that a global carrier like Maersk Line, with its own well-developed Green Shipping policy, praised the new initiative by Wal-Mart Canada.

The suppliers are being asked to benchmark energy use, waste, emissions and other byproducts of their activities against which progress will be rated.

Last summer, Wal-Mart began a pilot program with logistics provider SCM to switch modes from road to rail for shipments bound for 10 stores in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. This change reduced carbon emissions by an estimated 2,600 tons. For necessary road delivery, the companies converted 20 truck generators to electric power, saving 40,000 liters of fuel.

In another measure last year, the Canadian operation switched some shipping crates from cardboard to elastic, allowing boxes to be used approximately 60 times instead of only once.

The company estimates the switch saved US$4.2 million, reduced waste by 1,400 tons and carbon emissions by 10,000 tons due to the elimination of cardboard production. This Canadian initiative is now being replicated as a 'best practice' in Wal-Mart's global operations.