Walmart has recognized Canadian greenhouse grower Village Farms Fresh as a “Giga Guru” through its sustainability initiative “Project Gigaton,” according to a news release. Of the more than 6,000 Walmart suppliers participating in Project Gigaton, the top 18% of suppliers earn the status of Giga Guru, says Village Farms.
Through Project Gigaton, Walmart aims to reduce or avoid one billion metric tons — a gigaton — of greenhouse gases from the global value chain by 2030. Walmart says this is equivalent to taking 238 million cars off the road for one year.
Walmart enacted Project Gigaton to engage suppliers in climate action and reduce emissions in the supply chain. Village Farms Fresh has been participating in Walmart’s Project Gigaton since the initiative began in 2017, the release said.
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, the release said.
“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,” Brandon Jamison, director of quality assurance for Village Farms, said in a news release.
Jamison says he sees 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.
Village Farms Fresh says it looks forward to hitting new milestones and targets for Project Gigaton, as well as getting other companies involved with the Walmart initiative.
“The more companies that join in, the greater the results will be for everyone,” said Jamison.
Village Farms Fresh says Project Gigaton aligns well with its “Good for the Earth” initiative. In 2022, as part of this initiative, Village Farms Fresh Director of Brand Marketing and Communications Helen Aquino was given the opportunity to speak with Walmart on the company’s sustainability process.
“We started small as a basis for the project by recognizing our strengths and then building on these over the years,” she said. “It has been a great learning tool for the company in the evolution of our sustainability goals.”
To learn more about Village Farms Fresh and its efforts pertaining to Walmart’s Project Gigaton, click here. To see the full listing of all of Walmart’s Project Gigaton Supplier Recognitions, click here.
