Measuring sustainability at Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart announced on Monday that it will soon be placing a sustainabilty index on all their products. Yup, when you buy something at Wal-Mart, you'll be able to study not only the nutritional information, but the sustainability information as well. Wal-Mart is turning itself into the Golly Green Giant.

Of course, nothing is simple or straightforward -- not when it comes to corporate sustainability and certainly not when it comes to Wal-Mart. Marc Gunther's blog raises a few of the most important questions about this Wal-Mart story. What factors should you consider when measuring the environmental impact of a product? It's hard to really put numbers on sustainability at the moment. Heck, it's hard enough to define the term, especially we are talking about sustainability for bottom-line driven corporations.

But all skepticism aside, it's still a positive step. Wal-Mart is reacting to consumers' demands (as they always do -- it's way they're so succesful). If consumers want more information about sustainability, Wal-Mart will put the screws to their providers and find a way to provide it. That can only be good in the long term.