This milestone collectively with other suppliers’ actions reported is expected to reduce, avoid or sequester over one gigaton of CO2 emissions, which helped Walmart to reach its intended goal six years early. To make a comparison, according to Walmart this is equivalent to taking 238 million cars off the road for one year.Village Farms Fresh has been participating in Walmart’s Project Gigaton since the initiative began in 2017. Project Gigaton was enacted by Walmart to engage suppliers in climate action since the retailer believes most emissions exist in the product supply chains rather than their stores and distribution centers. The Giga Guru supplier recognition status is given to companies who set SMART goals in at least three pillars of action or science-based targets, report progress in each, complete a carbon footprint scope and then share this information with Walmart.
“Village Farms Fresh has always been an environmentally conscious company and Project Gigaton helps us to ensure we are staying on track, and at the same time, remaining open to new ideas on how to better improve our processes for reducing emissions,” said Brandon Jamison, director of quality assurance, who foresees future opportunities for implementing a companywide tracking system to continually monitor data and archive results collected pertaining to the areas of focus, especially as Project Gigaton expands.
Project Gigaton aligns well with Village Farms Fresh’s, Good for the Earth initiative. Back 2022, Helen L. Aquino, director of brand marketing and communication for Village Farms Fresh, was given the opportunity to speak with Walmart’s Project Gigaton, sustainability performance survey measuring tool, THESIS Index created by The Sustainability Consortium, on the company’s process. “We started small as a basis for the project by recognizing our strengths and then building on these over the years, it has been a great learning tool for the company in the evolution of our sustainability goals,” said Aquino.
