Collaboration in action: The Walmart Canada Green Business Summit

As Vancouver prepared to host the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, on February 10th Walmart Canada invited more than 350 leaders from the worlds of business, retail, government and NGOs to participate in its landmark Green Business Summit.

The purpose of the day-long event was to present, explore and discuss the business case for sustainability, leading up to the group co-signing the Sustainability Challenge and launch of the website ShareGreen.ca as a means for all stakeholders to build momentum moving forward.

The Green Business Summit focused on the power of collaboration and teamwork – working transparently with partners and competitors alike to more effectively achieve common goals.

For President and CEO David Cheesewright, the message was clear: “This Summit is an opportunity for leaders of the Canadian business community, academics, government officials, and NGOs to learn from each other’s successes and work together to lead Canada into a new era of sustainable business.”

From David Suzuki: The urgency of action

The summit’s keynote speaker, award-winning scientist, environmentalist and broadcaster, Dr. David Suzuki, set the tone with an urgent call for business to take action to solve environmental challenges: “We have to understand, that the economy is something humans created, and that nature is the very source of our economic well being. So the nature surely needs to be put at a higher priority.”

A lively panel discussion on Green Business Leadership saw six influential Canadian business leaders share stories from the marketplace of how they’re driving sustainability initiatives to successfully benefit the bottom line.

Walmart’s own perspective was well represented by President and CEO David Cheesewright and Matt Kistler, recently the SVP of Sustainability for Walmart Global, who provided a thumbnail guide to our next steps in the sustainability journey.

All participants were actively engaged in group discussions and interactive, collaborative exercises to challenge their views and thinking on sustainability.

Taking the Sustainability Challenge

The Summit was capped off with the Sustainability Challenge, where we asked a number of senior executives representing prominent Canadian companies to co-sign the following commitment: "My organization will launch a major sustainability project over the next year in Canada focused on waste, energy, water or sustainable products or services."

Signatories to the Sustainability Challenge

The Summit Legacy: ShareGreen.ca

We also announced the launch of ShareGreen.ca – an open online forum for corporations and organizations to share their sustainable business practices across the Canadian business community.

ShareGreen.ca currently features a growing archive of more than 120 sustainability case studies submitted by leading Canadian corporations, educational institutions and NGOs:

  • studies focus on areas including waste and energy reduction, sustainable products, water conservation and employee green engagement
  • submissions to date include best practices from SC Johnson, Heinz, Maple Leaf Foods, Mountain Equipment Co-op, Simon Fraser University, World Wildlife Fund and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative