Case Study 12: The Paris Climate Change Agreement: Walmart and Amazon as
Sustainability Leaders
Written by Gordon Rands, Patricia Kanashiro, and Pamela Rands
Case Summary
Climate change is the greatest environmental challenge facing the world today. It has been
referred to as the existential crisis of the 21st century. Nations have been attempting since the
early 1990s to develop responses to climate change that solve the problem without disrupting
Case Analysis
This case addresses the Paris Climate Agreement designed to tackle the problem of climate
change, which is the preeminent global environmental problem and is a major focus of chapter
12. The case provides additional background on greenhouse gases to supplement the scientific
pressures that provide much of the motivation for this process, especially Vision and Strategy,
Employee Involvement, Feedback and Measurement, and Influence, and questions posed also
relate somewhat to Integrate into All Business Functions. Information presented in the case
relates to different green organization features (LO 12.6), including Green Mission Statement,
Critical Thinking Questions and Suggested Answers
1.
approaches to address climate change? How do these reflect their differing business
models?
Walmart and Amazon are global and leading retail companies with significant different business
models and therefore distinct approaches to address climate change. Walmart is a typical brick-
Amazon is one of the four biggest tech companies (together with Apple, Google, and Facebook)
with businesses in computing cloud service Amazon Web Services (AWS), online stores,
physical stores (Whole Foods, Amazon Go), and subscriptions (e.g., Prime membership,
2. Did the U.S. leaving the Paris Agreement represent an opportunity for big businesses to
step up to the challenge of tackling climate change? How well do you think Amazon and
U.S. to the Paris Agreement will have on Walmart, Amazon, and other companies?
Companies, especially large ones such as Amazon and Walmart, were going to have to make
dramatic changes to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. But the withdrawal of the U.S. from
Amazon and Walmart have each made significant strides, but their actions and goals still fall
short of the actions that are needed. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the
with other planned climate
initiatives such as a green infrastructure plan, will likely further draw attention to the need of
3. Should Amazon disclose more information regarding the
If so, in what way?
One of the main criticisms against Amazon is its lack of transparency of the methodology used to
calculate GHG emissions and lack of disclosure regarding GHG scope 3 emissions, both
Amazon could consider following existing standardized protocols for reporting emissions (e.g.,
CDP), which would enhance transparency, credibility, and consistency of the reported data. In
4.
practices? How can Walmart leverage its buying power and give suppliers the incentive to
innovate?
uire sustainability practices
of them, businesses frequently require suppliers to make changes to their products. This has
Walmart can partner with suppliers to set emissions goals, develop a reduction emission plan,
and encourage continuous reports and third-party accountability. Walmart can work with
5. Could Amazon require its suppliers (and/or third-party sellers) to adopt a similar
model? Should it?
It would be more difficult, but still possible for Amazon to require similar actions by those
While it may not make good business sense for Amazon to require this, if the company is serious
6. Should Amazon and Walmart be focusing on other environmental issues in addition to
climate change? Which ones, and why?
While climate is the most critical environmental issue due to its impacts on human social and
economic well-being, as well as on all other species, there are many other environmental
In addition to energy use and climate impacts, key environmental issues in production include
use of pesticides and other harmful chemicals, destruction of natural habitats to produce foods
Harmful environmental impacts during the use of products largely relate to energy consumption
Many environmental problems occur because of the disposal of products after their useful life.
Most notable among these are the release of plastics into aquatic, marine and terrestrial
ecosystems, and the release of toxic chemicals and/or methane when products are disposed of in