Walmart’s membership marks an important moment for the retail industry, significantly scaling the impact of sustainable cotton sourcing and reinforcing the company’s focus on regeneration and transparency in its supply chain. Image source: US Cotton Trust Protocol
The U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol has revealed that Walmart, a global retail powerhouse, has joined the program. Walmart’s membership marks an important moment for the retail industry, significantly scaling the impact of sustainable cotton sourcing and reinforcing the company’s focus on regeneration and transparency in its supply chain.
As a member of the Trust Protocol, Walmart will gain access to aggregated, verifiable data on sustainability practices from U.S. cotton growers and have the ability to track the movement of U.S. Cotton and Protocol Cotton through its supply chain. This aligns with Walmart’s ambition to source more sustainable cotton and its broader ambition to help more sustainably manage, protect, and/or restore at least 50 million acres of land and 1 million square miles of ocean by 2030.
Jerome Del Porto, Head of Corporate Sustainability at Walmart, said, “At Walmart, we are committed to providing our customers with quality products that are not only affordable but also produced in a way that is responsible and sustainable. Joining the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol is another step in our journey to continue driving meaningful change within our own supply chain and the industry at large.”
The U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol
Established in 2020, the Trust Protocol is a voluntary, science-based sustainability program and traceability platform for U.S. cotton that sets quantifiable, verifiable goals and provides measurement metrics. The program collects field-level data across six key sustainability metrics—land use, soil health, water management, greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, and fiber quality—which are aggregated and then verified by an independent third party. By underpinning U.S. cotton’s sustainability progress with sophisticated data collection and offering full supply chain transparency through its traceability platform, the Trust Protocol provides brands and retailers like Walmart the critical assurances they need to be confident they are sourcing more sustainably grown cotton. Other members include Amazon, Macy’s Inc., Levi’s, and URBN.
Gary Adams, President of the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol, expressed, “We welcome Walmart to the Trust Protocol, recognizing the reach and influence their membership will extend in advancing sustainable cotton sourcing practices. This collaboration directly strengthens our mission to drive continuous improvement and foster greater transparency in the supply chain.”