From Yahoo News:

Walmart discusses global warming steps

By MARCUS KABEL, Associated Press Writer Wed Jul 12, 2:47 PM ET

BENTONVILLE, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is the biggest private user of electricity in the world and has huge potential to cut back on greenhouse gases in-house and among its 60,000 suppliers, company officials said ahead of a global warming information stop Wednesday by former vice president Al Gore.

Wal-Mart working groups on environmental change were meeting ahead of Gore's visit to discuss steps already taken and new efforts ahead under a green initiative launched last October by Chief Executive Lee Scott to make the often-criticized company a better environmental citizen.

Why does this strike me as an attempt by the smart, nerdy kid to impress the more popular high school dimwits?

The world's largest retailer emitted the equivalent of 20.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide last year, the main greenhouse gas, while the best estimate for its supply chain — all the production and shipping needed to fill Wal-Mart shelves — is 10 times that, said Jim Stanway, director of project development in Wal-Mart's energy department.

"We're big, but we're certainly not the biggest," Stanway said. Coca-Cola Co. produces about 5 million metric tons a year while utility American Electric Power emits about 160 million metric tons, he added.

Wal-Mart disclosed its CO2 figure for the first time this year.

And this is important because ......??

Scientists have become increasingly concerned in recent years about the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels. Average worldwide temperatures have risen this century as a result of what many believe is a greenhouse effect from that pollution.

Stanway and other executives said Wal-Mart's potential to slow global warming stemmed from the size of its supplier network and the influence Wal-Mart can wield to encourage better practices by those companies it buys from.

Ah, the innocence of business executives. Let's do some math, shall we? The UN's GEO data project estimates that about 25,000 million metric tons of CO2 are emitted yearly into the atmosphere. So Wal-Mart's contribution is about 0.08% of the total. According to Professor Roger Pielke, 26.5% - 28% of contemporary warming can be attributed to atmospheric CO2. The IPCC estimates total warming of 0.4C - 0.8C, so (keep following me here) on average 0.6(.28) = 0.17C (plus or minus 0.06C) warming can be attributed to ALL the atmospheric CO2. Therefore Wal-Mart's contribution is 0.08% of THAT, which works out to be .00014C, which for all intents and purposes, given the margins of error in the calculations, is zero. So how does reducing this slow global warming again?

"We have made it clear that all things being equal, we'll give business to operators who show they're fully engaged" in fuel efficiency efforts, said Tim Yatsko, Wal-Mart senior vice president of transportation.

Before a presentation from Gore on his anti-global warming campaign, executives from 14 so-called sustainable value networks traded ideas, with each group consisting of Wal-Mart people, suppliers and outside experts to work on specific issues like alternative fuels, textiles and logistics.

Charles Zimmerman, in charge of developing new Wal-Mart stores, said the company was already reducing energy demand by installing more efficient lighting and retrofitting refrigerators.

New store prototypes in the works will use design and technology to be 30 percent more efficient than today's stores and in the longer term even 50 percent more efficient.

"We are the number one private purchaser of electricity in the United States and therefore in the world," Zimmerman said.

In logistics, covering Wal-Mart's fleet of 7,000 trucks, Tim Yatsko said the company had already cut fuel use by 8 percent by putting alternative power units in rigs this year so they can stop idling engines during loading or breaks. That saved $25 million in fuel bills and cut 100,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Finally, a REAL, logical reason for Wal-Mart to cut their fuel use.

Lee Scott plans to make the retailer a leader in cutting emissions, energy use and solid waste and selling more environmentally friendly products. Scott took the environmental offensive at a time when Wal-Mart is under attack from organized labor and other groups for its business practices, including employee pay and health benefits.

So this "we'll help stop global warming" appears to be a ploy to distract leftists from other, potentially more costly issues. Now, I'm certainly not against businesses trying to become more efficient in their use of fossil fuels. We all need to do this for a variety of reasons. I just wish they wouldn't give bad climate science even more publicity with such silly reasoning.