Walmart said it will not be able to meet its ambitious emissions goals, in part because it does not expect cost-effective low-carbon transportation to become a reality as soon as earlier projected.

In its ESG report released last month, Walmart said, “While we continue to work toward our aspirational target of zero operational emissions by 2040, progress will not be linear… and depends not only on our own initiatives but also on factors beyond our control.”

Among those factors, it said, was  “timely emergence of cost-effective technologies for low-carbon heavy tractor transportation (which does not appear likely until the 2030s).”

In 2020, Walmart announced a plan to achieve zero-carbon operations by 2040. Part of that plan was electrifying all of its vehicles, including long-haul trucks, by 2040. But Class 8 electric trucks are still too expensive.

The Challenges of ZEVs in Trucking

During a panel discussion at ACT Expo 2024, Walmart Senior Engineering Manager Brooke Weeks explained, “We hope the cost curve will start bending as there is more consistency and scale in vehicles, but today for some use cases ZEVs are two-and-a-half times the cost of diesel.”

The good news, she said, was the company was seeing lower operating costs for zero-emission vehicles. “We can achieve more by managing charging schedules and sharing charging infrastructure.”

The company said it will consider revising its targets in 2025 based on the best available information and assumptions available.

In 2023, the Walmart fleet (transport fuel, mobile refrigerants) contributed 26% of its Scope 1 emissions.

“While we have prioritized achieving zero emissions from our vehicles and transportation network, we have also been transparent that meaningfully addressing transportation-related emissions would take many years,” Walmart said.

“Indeed, relevant technologies for the highest-emitting sources — including Class 8 tractors, refrigerated trailers, and yard trucks — are nascent.”

At the same time, Walmart has grown its fleet and brought some routes formerly served by third parties in-house to serve with its private fleet. Those increases contributed to a 10% increase in transportation fuel emissions in 2023 vs. 2022.

What Walmart is Doing to Reduce Transportation Emissions

“While the nascent state of scalable technology will mean that transportation-related emissions are unlikely to decline over the next few years,” Walmart said it is using several strategies to make headway.

It is testing new technologies such as heavy-duty battery electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, including transitioning to liquid hydrogen-operated forklifts.

While truck fleet efficiency remains a focus, new technologies will play a role in decarbonizing long-haul/heavy-duty Class 8 tractors and yard trucks, Walmart said, including renewable diesel, battery-electric, and hydrogen fuels. 

Walmart is actively deploying and piloting these technologies. For example, it uses electric yard trucks at some facilities.