Walmart
At a Glance
Industry
Retail and Apparel
Project Types
Financial Evaluation and Planning, Zero Emission Vehicles, Freight and Logistics
Year
2023
Location
Bentonville, AR
Summary
Robert Squiers identified Zero Emission Heavy Duty Vehicle deployment strategies to reduce Walmart’s emissions.
Goals
Walmart, with one of the world’s largest private fleets supported by over 30,000 moving assets, has committed to zero emissions across global operations by 2040 to include zeroing out emissions from vehicles. Robert Squiers joined Walmart as a Climate Corps fellow to analyze the state of the Zero Emission Heavy Duty Vehicle market and to advise leadership on environmentally-conscious purchasing decisions that balance seamless operation with costs that keep prices low for Walmart’s customers.
Solutions
Robert approached the challenge using an environmental, financial, and social framework:
- Environmental: Using available resources, Robert created a model that compares the environmental impact of technologies throughout their full lifecycle by U.S. region and year through 2050 to inform vehicle deployment decisions. Additionally, Robert created a method to compare the sustainability performance of vehicle manufacturers.
- Financial: Working with Vehicle Manufacturers and Walmart’s Fleet Service Team, Robert developed a Total Cost of Ownership tool that analyzes both the total investment required and cost to reduce one standard unit of emissions across technologies by U.S. region and year through 2050 to inform vehicle deployment decisions.
- Social: Robert provided background and recommendations to address Zero Emission technology regulations, material sourcing concerns, and environmental justice issues.
Potential Impact
Using the results of his analysis, Robert estimated that mixes of Battery Electric, Hydrogen Fuel Cell, and Diesel vehicle technology deployments across Walmart’s 10,000+ unit U.S. Heavy Duty Vehicle Fleet could reduce up to 1 million metric tons of CO2e over the vehicle ownership period. Robert found that particular investments in Zero Emission Vehicle technologies can allow Walmart to continue operations while reducing emissions and minimizing costs.
This environmental, social, and financial analysis provides the background necessary to make more holistic and informed investment and procurement decisions now and into the future.