Around the time same time last year we wrote about how the ‘tide is changing’ at Wal-Mart.  We now report that the tide is turning “green.”

The New York Times recently published a piece about how shoppers may soon see tags on Wal-Mart items that provide information about the product’s footprint, water usage and even air pollution generated. This is news we at the EcoLogo Program want to share with you, our readers and our clients.

At yesterday’s Sustainability Milestone Meeting in Bentonville, Arkansas, President and CEO of Wal-Mart, Mike Duke, spoke to 1,500 of the company’s suppliers and employees about Wal-Mart’s plans to create a Sustainability Index to assess the sustainability of products as well as a consortium of universities to collaborate with suppliers, retailers, NGOs and government to develop a global database of information on the lifecycle of products.

Scot Case, Executive Director of the EcoLogo Program, was at yesterday’s meeting and has been meeting with various companies and individuals about the future of eco-labels such as EcoLogo. The EcoLogo Program has, and continues to, help redefine the future of environmental labeling. The EcoLogo Program has been very involved with the initial planning of the Sustainability Consortium for Wal-Mart and will continue to play an advisory role moving forward.

This Wal-Mart Sustainability meeting is adding to the tides changing from blue to green. From the Congressional Hearing around defining Fair Green Marketing Practices back in June to consumer action against “greenwashing”, the topics of eco-labeling and green marketing on the tips of many tongues. And EcoLogo is working hard at the center of it all.

We invite you to stay tuned for additional details on how EcoLogo will be working with its clients to help explain the market opportunities to come out of this and upcoming work with Wal-Mart.

Posted by KateRusnak in Environmental standards, Green business, Green products, Marketing, Procurement