THE SUSTAINABILITY INTERVIEW
Walmart is one of the world’ s largest retailers, serving millions of customers daily across thousands of stores and digital platforms. From agriculture and apparel and electronics to e-commerce, Walmart’ s value chains span continents, ecosystems and communities. With such scope, the company faces sustainability challenges – but also opportunities.
Sustainability leadership in action Helping to guide the company’ s sustainability work is Kathleen McLaughlin, Walmart’ s Chief Sustainability Officer. Kathleen has spent more than a decade at Walmart, following a 23-year career at McKinsey & Company.
“ My team and I help Walmart teams transform our business by addressing social and environmental issues,” she says.
This transformation covers climate, human rights, economic opportunity and community resilience, all integrated into business decision-making.
Rather than treating sustainability as a separate function, Walmart positions it as a driver of long-term value creation. For Kathleen, this is about aligning business performance with societal outcomes, an approach often described as“ shared value”.
“ Our purpose as a company is to help people save money and live better,” she explains.“ That’ s been true for decades – it’ s very simple and sustainability is core to that.”
“ We can’ t have a world where the sustainable choice is the premium offering that only certain people can afford to choose – it’ s about shifting business models, including our own, to embed sustainability”
Kathleen McLaughlin EVP, Chief Sustainability Officer Walmart
22 June 2026