Who would have thought that one of the most controversial corporations in America would be the first to start one of the biggest greening projects in retail? The Big Money Blog’s Marc Gunter reported that Walmart has started a consortium of businesses and universities, including the University of Michigan, that have undertaken the task of creating a sustainability index that would be labeled on every product from bicycles to Hi-Def TVs.

Details of the program are still scare as it will not be announced until later today at Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. The project has been in development for over a year and complete roll-out could take up to two years. However, the end result is that consumers will have a concrete statistic on the sustainability and global impact of every product they buy off Wal-Mart shelves.

And how is Wal-Mart able to throw their collective weight around? By being the nations largest retailer, earning $406 billion in revenue in 2008. This is not the first time Wal-Mart has flexed its muscles either. They announced that by May 2008, the store would only carry concentrated bottles of laundry detergent because they used less water and less plastic packaging. Wal-Mart struck again when they announced they would no longer carry products made with cotton by Uzbekistan, as they protested the countries child labor laws.

Not too long ago, many people may not have thought that Wal-Mart would be playing the role of moral compass in terms of our national sustainability. But it seems this is exactly what they are doing and as the country’s largest private employer it is a role nicely suited to them. Wal-Mart has done the responsible thing by realizing that this project is bigger than itself and partnering with suppliers and universities to develop an index that will truly measure the transparency of a product’s supply line and its impact on the environment. It should be interested to see how this initiative is carried out, and the public’s response to it.

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