About ten years ago, I asked my sons at dinner: “Do you think Walmart should be working on protecting the environment?” They were about six and eight at the time. I hardly had the words out of my mouth when my youngest answered: “Duh, dad.”

It had only taken him a few seconds to reach the right conclusion. Most of us took a little longer.

My version of Walmart’s Global Responsibility story is that we had a legacy of serving certain stakeholders really well. We served customers well. We served associates well. And it was our belief that if we took care of those groups then the rest would fall into place.

But slowly, with the help of some very smart advisors, we realized we weren’t doing enough. We started asking ourselves: What if we needed to change? What if we started listening to NGOs and even our critics more closely? And what if we simply recommitted ourselves to making our company even better? We went through a significant change in our perspective.

At first, there were some awkward conversations – frank meetings with folks we had never met with before. But what came out of those conversations was exhilarating. In fact, some of our critics then are some of our best advisors now.

We’re in a much different place today. We have seen over and over how this work benefits the environment and our business – whether it’s running our truck fleet more efficiently or putting more innovative products on our shelves. We have seen we can make a difference for the environment on energy and on waste, and we’re now really leaning into our work on our supply chain. Our questions today are about how we can move faster and tackle more big challenges in three core areas: sustainability, opportunity and local communities. I’m excited to lead Walmart as we write this next chapter. There are so many ways Walmart can make a difference, and we will.

I share with you all of this history because I want you to know how personally we take what you’ll read in these pages. We care deeply about the people who are touched by our business, and we want to do right by them. We’re the world’s largest retailer, but we’re also moms and dads, and we have sons and daughters who will need this planet long after we will.

And we need your help. We publish this report as part of our commitment to building trust with you through transparency. We ask in return that you keep engaging with us, keep critiquing us and keep challenging us. Keep telling us what we can do better – and help us get there.

Doug McMillon
President and Chief Executive Officer - Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.