Statement by BSR President and CEO Aron Cramer on Walmart Climate Announcement

Authors

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  Aron Cramer

  President and CEO, BSR

  

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  Aron Cramer

  President and CEO, BSR

  

  San Francisco

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  Aron is recognized globally as a preeminent authority on just and sustainable business. In addition to leading BSR, which has grown substantially throughout his tenure as President and CEO, Aron advises senior executives at BSR’s 300+ member companies and other global businesses and partners on the full spectrum of environmental, social, and governance issues.

  Aron joined BSR in 1995 as the founding director of its Business and Human Rights program. He later opened BSR's Paris office in 2002, where he worked until becoming President and CEO in 2004. Aron has served on advisory boards to CEOs at AXA, Barrick Gold, Marks & Spencer, Nike, Recruit Holdings, SAP, Shell, and he serves as a director of the We Mean Business Coalition and RISE.

  Aron speaks frequently at leading business and public fora and is widely quoted in top-tier media, such as the Financial Times, Le Figaro (France), The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Axios, and Politico. He is co-author of the book Sustainable Excellence: The Future of Business in a Fast-Changing World, which spotlights innovative sustainability strategies that enable business success.

  Prior to joining BSR, Aron practiced law in San Francisco and worked as a journalist at ABC News in New York. He holds a BA from Tufts University and a JD from the University of California, Berkeley.

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BSR welcomes Walmart’s commitment to pursue an absolute greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 18 percent and further work to prevent the release of 1 gigaton of emissions in its global supply chain by 2025.

Walmart is both the largest company by revenue and the largest private-sector employer in the world. The company’s commitment to ambition, while impressive in isolation, is even more significant in terms of its multiplier effect and its place in the larger scheme of corporate action on climate change. The power of Walmart’s procurement will undoubtedly encourage other major corporations to raise their own levels of ambition, sending a compelling market signal to companies around the globe and across industrial sectors. Leading on climate change will become the new normal across the business community. And Walmart’s success will serve as a model to other companies, demonstrating the compatibility between profitability and climate stewardship.

Walmart now joins the ranks of hundreds of other companies that have made bold commitments on climate action. To date, 471 companies with total revenue in excess of US$8 trillion and 183 investors with assets under management exceeding US$20 trillion have made more than 1,000 commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This includes close to 200 companies that are now setting science-based emissions reductions targets.

Walmart’s announcement caps a year of bold collective action on climate change. The Paris Agreement, which brings together 196 countries in the common pursuit of global warming of no more than 2°C, has undoubtedly created unprecedented momentum. The recent amendment to the Montreal Protocol adopted in Rwanda, which phases out the use of hydrofluorocarbons, confirmed government commitment to reducing greenhouse gases of all stripes.

Although climate change remains a significant material risk to business and society, today's announcement strengthens our common foundation to build resilient businesses, resilient societies, and a resilient world as we move into 2017.