Walmart announced recently that it wouldn’t be meeting its emission-reductions targets. Previously, the company had vowed that by 2024, it would reduce operational greenhouse gas emissions by 35% compared to 2015 levels, and by 2030, it was going to get those down by 65%.
The mega retail chain is not alone in its retreat from aggressive pursuits of net-zero emissions as those goals run head-on into the limits of current technology to replace fossil fuels affordably and reliability.
Unlike other companies revising their targets, however, the Walton Family Fund, one of the foundations initiated with Walmart wealth, has been pouring millions of dollars into media outlets and professional journalism groups to promote a climate agenda, as well as to activist groups lobbying for climate policies.
While the donations to the outlets are promoted as philanthropic support for journalism, critics say the organization is effectively funding a public relations campaign for its own political agenda.