Don’t ask me why, but 2015 has all of a sudden become the year for green transformations.

Last week, Wal-Mart said it plans to cut 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its supply chain by 2015. It will do this by going through stores category-by-category, rooting out the products responsible for the highest carbon output, and then working with suppliers to reduce the amounts. This could mean Wal-Mart’s vendors need to revisit how they source ingredients, the way they ship their products; changing whatever process is using the most energy.

The changes could be big, and manufacturers, many of whom have worked with the retailer on its packaging scorecard, may not be enthused about Wal-Mart calling the shots like this. But Wal-Mart argues, compellingly, that such changes would put them ahead of the regulatory curve and into consumers’ good graces.

“As we help our suppliers reduce their energy use, costs and carbon footprint, we’ll be helping our customers do the same thing,” said Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke, in a statement.

The Bentonville retailer has made strides with this and other efforts to tame emissions — but it’s not the most ambitious company out there. That title arguably belongs to Great Britain’s Marks & Spencer, which announced today that it aims to become the world’s most sustainable retailer by 2015. more

For all the attention that the organic industry gets, it’s easy to forget just how small it really is. We got a reminder earlier this week when the U.S. Department of Agriculture offered up the results from its first ever wide-scale survey of organic farming.

According to the results, less than 1% of all farms in the U.S. are organic. The survey tallied 14,540 organic farms covering 4.1 million acres of land, with total sales of $3.16 billion in 2008.

A few other interesting findings from the report:

- No surprise, California led the nation with 20% of all organic farms and 36% of total sales.

- Organic farms bring in an average of $217,675 in sales, compared to $134,807 for all other farms.

- Expenditures for organic farms are higher, however, at $171,978 per farm compared to $109,359 for other farms.

- 44% of organic farms sold their products within 100 miles from where they were grown.

- 83% of organic farm sales came from wholesale channels, 10% direct from retailers, and only 7% of sales came directly from consumers. more

It’s great to see yet another retailer confronting the urgent need for sustainably sourced seafood. Today, Target announced that it will eliminate all farm-raised salmon from its stores in favor of the wild-caught Alaskan variety.

The decision came out of close consultation with the Monterrey Bay Aquarium, a widely respected organization that has established its own standards for sustainable fisheries. According to Target, the salmon farms it had previously sourced from pollute too much, leach chemicals into the environment, and allow parasites and non-native fish to disrupt surrounding habitats. Alaska’s wild-caught salmon, on the other hand, is intensively managed to protect the health of the species and the ecosystem.

“The company’s decision to address this issue represents an incredible willingness to challenge old paradigms in favor of sound science and environmental preservation, as well as provide real market value to its guests,” said Casson Trenor, a senior markets campaigner with Greenpeace, who’s been a tough critic in the past and who applauded Target’s decision.

This certainly is a big step for a major retailer. Americans have developed a big appetite for seafood, and farming operations have been able to provide supermarkets with large, reliable quantities. But, as Target aptly pointed out, there are issues with their impact on the environment — issues that have caught the eyes of many concerned shoppers. more

When it comes to pesticides, potatoes are heavy hitters. They can receive up to 19 sprays in a single growing season. Farmers often spray on a weekly basis, or even more frequently to try to prevent blight. They also spray herbicides to kill the tops of the plants at the end of the growing season to make the underground tubers easier to harvest.

That’s why it’s so difficult to find organic potatoes, because the things are really tough to grow. It’s a high-value, but vulnerable, crop.

Every once in a while we hear from the Wisconsin Eco-Potato partnership, which was established in 1996 by the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) and the University of Wisconsin. The goal has been to develop ways to minimize chemical use and promote sustainable farming. The effort has produced advances in integrated pest management, water conservation, soil protection and yields without the use of genetic modification.

In 2001, the group introduced the Healthy Grown label. In order to get it, farmers and their products are certified by Protected Harvest, an independent oversight organization created to monitor the overall effort. Healthy Grown has compiled an eight-year database tracing IPM and pesticide use, which is shared with the university and other organizations like the International Crane Foundation, the Defenders of Wildlife and the World Wildlife Fund.

“One of Healthy Grown’s greatest strengths is the collaboration between researchers, conservationists and growers,” notes A.J. Bussan, associate professor in the Department of Horticulture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Healthy Grown emerged from a targeted set of specific sustainability standards, but all of us continue to challenge those standards.” more

In the four years I’ve lived in New York, I’ve gotten used to buying only what I can carry home from the grocery store. Doing this is nice because its quick, because it’s good exercise, and because we waste less food. But man, sometimes I can’t help but remember fondly those days (college) when I’d load down the car with everything I needed — and didn’t need — for the week, and just drive home.

The automobile, that symbol of American independence, offers many of the conveniences and efficiencies we enjoy. And yet its excessive in so many ways as well, for ourselves and for the environment. In the down economy, Americans scrapped 14 million cars and only purchased 10 million, according to a new study by the Earth Policy Institute, leading to a 2% decline in the country’s auto fleet. That’s the first decline since World War 2.

Much of this is due to people taking advantage of the federal “Cash for Clunkers” program, and generally unburdening themselves of the financial weight that comes with owning a car. But the EPI says there’s also evidence that, particularly amongst younger consumers, people want to skip the car to help reduce emissions. It’s possible that by 2020, the institute says, we could own 10% less than the current fleet. more

Give consumers some credit — they know a lot about sustainability, and they like to know when they’re shopping a store that’s doing it’s part to make the world just a little bit greener.

It’s the retailer’s job to fill them in, of course. And that’s no easy task. How do you explain the new refrigeration systems in marketing language? What about that energy-saving doohickey that heats the front doors? Do you tell them about that?

Supermarkets have been shy about talking directly to their shoppers about sustainable design. Many just put out a press release and let us do the rest. But then there are those like Food Lion that really step up. The Salisbury, North Carolina-based retailer made headlines this week by opening its first “green” store in South Carolina — but for months, ever since it broke ground on the site in July, the company has been providing construction updates and education on its website.

Click over to their dedicated page, and you’ll find an interactive menu with tips, pictures, a video, and even a quiz aimed at promoting the new store. Take the quiz to discover that the store uses 20% less energy than a typical supermarket, has LED lights in its refrigeration units, uses low-flow water systems that conserve more than 140,000 gallons of water a year, and more. Didn’t score 100%? You should be ashamed of yourself. more

The food industry knows that “going green” oftentimes means “slimming down”. That’s why in recent years companies have reduced packaging, cut down on the miles they transport products, and lowered their energy use.

Which is all well and good, but there’s a lot more to be done. As the industry works its way to the center of the issue, it’ll likely encounter another area of the business in need of trimming: the food itself.

Food waste includes everything from table scraps to whole products that go bad or get thrown out. It’s anything edible that goes unused, at any point along the food chain, from producers to retailers to consumers. According to a recent study, 1,400 calories of food per person goes to waste each day in this country — a 50% increase since 1974.

Food waste isn’t something most retailer think about. It’s difficult to track and quantify, and it’s not something that’s easily explained. Tell your customers you’re stocking less food, and you may have a rebellion on your hands.

But this doesn’t make it any less of a problem, and it doesn’t mean there aren’t innovative ways out there to address it. Take what Tesco’s doing, for example. The British retailer recently announced it will offer a Buy One Get One Free – Later promotion more

If you’re from Seattle, you’re probably familiar with Referendum 1. For those who aren’t, allow me to explain: Last year, the city passed an ordinance requiring grocery, drug and convenience stores to charge a $.20-per-bag fee for plastic bags. The ordinance was supposed to go into effect January 1st of this year, but a coalition funded to the tune of $1 million by the American Chemistry Council was able to block it, leaving the final vote up to Seattle’s residents during the city’s primary elections.

That vote happens today.

The significance of Referendum 1 isn’t just in what it says about the issue of plastic vs. reusable bags, but what it says about the environmental movement and the role that retailers can play in it.

Shoppers know that the goods they use don’t just disappear when they’re done with them. The bags, boxes, bottles and other containers end up somewhere — perhaps in the Texas-sized Pacific Ocean gyre, swirling around as tiny, inorganic reminders of what we don’t need anymore. Reusable bags have — as we’ve reported numerous times — become a relatively simple way for shoppers to cut down on some of that waste. more

We’re heartened to see Ahold USA chain Stop & Shop dive deeper into its ongoing sustainable seafood program by working more closely with the New England Aquarium, which has emerged as one of the leaders in the move to protect fisheries from becoming depleted.

Most recently the retailer’s seafood buying team and a New England Aquarium shrimp specialist traveled to Indonesia and Thailand to meet with Stop & Shop’s shrimp vendor partners to work on environmental improvements in those operations. The collaboration will allow both Stop & Shop and the aquarium to develop a list of best practices for vendors.

If you’re going to tell someone how to do something, and set standards for them, then the only right way to get that done is to go out there and work on the issue, bringing plenty of ideas (and expert help is good, too).

“We realized that we needed to better understand where we stand with our full seafood effort in order to make more of a positive impact,” Tracy Taylor, Stop & Shop’s senior seafood buyer, said in a company statement. “We want to continue to offer the variety of seafood choices that our customers want to purchase but in order to do that, we need to work with our vendor partners in the seafood industry to encourage sustainable fishing and aquaculture practices.”

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Sustainably designed, LEED-certified grocery stores are going up rapid fire these days, and now comes one claiming to be the greenest of them all. This Saturday, Hannaford will open what it hopes will become the country’s first Platinum LEED certified supermarket.

Those in the retail business know: Platinum certification is the granddaddy of them all, the most prestigious, most hard-won symbol of environmentally responsible design out there. And Hannaford has taken some pretty complex, innovative steps in getting their new store, located in Augusta, Maine, up to snuff.

For starters, the company decided to place the store on a preexisting site — a former high school — rather than develop new land. When it did tear down the old building, it made sure to recycle between 96 and 99% of the materials removed. In building the store, Hannaford made sure to provide ample daylighting and install high-efficiency overhead lights. Much of the company’s energy needs come via a large solar panel array, and a high-tech GreenChill refrigeration system means the company will use 50% less energy than a conventional system. To heat the store during cold Maine winters, Hannaford installed a setup that will repurpose energy generated elsewhere in the system, thus cutting down on inputs consumption.

It’s all enough to make a non-technical person like myself go cross-eyed. But it’s another positive step for the industry, and according to Hannaford all the new features should combine to create the same convenient grocery experience that people are used to. (photo courtesy of doortoriver)