Brief to Shareholders of Walmart re: Shareholder Proposal to Improve and Report on Refrigerant Management and Associated Emissions
Recommended: Vote FOR Proposal #4 asking for Walmart to “issue a report, at reasonable cost and omitting proprietary information, describing if and how it plans to limit its impact on climate change by increasing the scale, pace, and rigor of its plans to reduce refrigerants released from its operations.”
Dear Walmart Shareholder,
Highly potent greenhouse gases called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are leaking out of Walmart facilities and contribute nearly half of Walmart’s direct climate-damaging emissions. HFCs have thousands of times the global warming potential (GWP) of carbon dioxide and are commonly used as refrigerants in supermarket cooling systems, but regularly leak out through faulty equipment.
Walmart reported over three million metric tons of HFC emissions in 2019, which equates to more than half a million cars on the road each year.1 HFCs make up a staggering 48 percent of Walmart’s direct (Scope 1) emissions.2 Rapid adoption of available HFC-free technologies and implementing best practices to reduce refrigerant leaks can protect the company from growing reputational and market risk of its laggard status, and minimize the financial impacts of anticipated skyrocketing HFC refrigerant prices under the approaching HFC phase-down regulations.
Environmental Investigation Agency and Green America urge you to vote in favor of the shareholder resolution #4 on Walmart’s refrigerant practices.