Walmart Against Setting of Carbon Offset Guidelines

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed or daily email newsletter.

Walmart, the retail giant has come under fire for expressing opposition to the establishment of a standardized definition of carbon offsets. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been trying to update its Green Guidelines for corporates and had asked retailers including Walmart, to provide feedback on the matter.

Wal-Mart Watch - a group that hopes to make Walmart a “better employer, neighbor, and corporate citizen”, has condemned the store’s response that urges the FTC to keep the definition of carbon offsets flexible (read hazy) :

“Although some may urge otherwise, the Commission should resist the temptation to define what constitutes an eligible offset or REC.”

According to the retail watchdog, Walmart’s decision to reduce its carbon footprint on the one hand and reluctance to accept a definition for offsets on the other, reeks of greenwashing.

There seem to be loopholes in Walmart’s argument as well - it argues that the FTC should refrain from setting concrete offset guidelines as there is lack of “widespread consensus about the precise contours of what constitutes a carbon offset or a REC”. But isn’t that exactly what the FTC is looking to rectify?