Walmart has joined the US Cotton Trust Protocol, a voluntary sustainability and traceability program for US cotton, expanding the retailer’s efforts to strengthen transparency and environmental performance in its supply chain.

As part of the program, Walmart will gain access to aggregated, independently verified data on sustainability practices from US cotton growers, along with traceability tools that allow the movement of US Cotton and Protocol Cotton to be tracked through the supply chain.

The membership supports Walmart’s broader sustainability objectives, including its goal to help sustainably manage, protect or restore 50 million acres of land and 1 million square miles of ocean by 2030.

“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,” said Jerome Del Porto, head of corporate sustainability at Walmart. 

“Joining the US 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 US Cotton Trust Protocol, established in 2020, collects field-level data across six sustainability metrics: land-use efficiency, soil health, water management, greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, and fibre quality. 

Existing members include Amazon, Macy’s, Levi Strauss & Co, and URBN.

The program is designed to provide quantifiable, verifiable data on cotton production, with the aim of supporting continuous improvement in environmental outcomes across US cotton farming.

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