Most of us know that Wal-Mart has been a big player in the “green” movement. The world’s biggest retailer takes the whole “let’s save the planet” talk very seriously. So it wasn’t with much shock that in July the company announced a worldwide sustainability index initiative—a single source of data for evaluating the sustainability of products.

The index will be introduced in three phases. First, the giant retailer will perform a supplier assessment through a survey to evaluate the suppliers’ own sustainability.

As a second step, the company is helping create a consortium of universities that will collaborate with suppliers, retailers, nongovernment organizations, and the government to develop a global database of information on the life cycle of products—from raw materials to disposal.

Finally, it will provide customers with all of the product’s information in an easy-to-understand manner so that they can make informed consumption choices.

Quality Digest staff tried to contact Wal-Mart directly to ask about the implications of such an index on the industry, but Wal-Mart’s sustainability department sent a note saying that there wasn’t much information to provide beyond the information and press release on its web site.

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