Topics of talk included alternative fuels, textiles and logistics options available, though the setting was more of a forum rather than one of ironing out concrete plans.

More substantial were comments from Charles Zimmerman, head of developing new stores, and Tim Yatsko, senior vice president of transportation.

From the building new stores angle, Zimmerman commented on the current use and upgrade efforts to more efficient lighting and refrigeration. Additionally that new stores would incorporate design elements and technology to make stores 50% more energy efficient.

Yatsko chimed in with stats detailing Wal-marts results from retrofitting parts of its 7,000 truck fleet with alternative power units. The alternative units have reduced fuel costs by roughly 8 percent, reducing emissions by 100,000 metric tons and saving Wal-mart $25 million dollars.

This is an interesting topic as one must try and assess what Wal-mart's motivation and rationale behind its "eco-friendly" efforts are.

Estimates of Wal-marts supply chain's total emissions (CO2) are in the neighborhood of 200 million metric tons.

On the one hand Wal-mart, being as large as it is, could potentially be a boon for the environment in that Wal-mart could pro-actively manage it's supply chain to reduce a tremendous amount of carbon dioxide emissions. Wal-marts size allows it to levy pressure on suppliers that may otherwise not have chosen to go a bit "green".

On the other hand, is Wal-mart being responsible in it's efforts? The two concrete examples provided by Wal-mart officials seem to have Wal-mart's "bottom line" profit more in mind than the environment. Reducing 100,000 metric tons of emissions equates to roughly 0.5% reduction in its emissions, while the savings boosts bottom-line profit by $25 million.

Of course, one can't expect Wal-mart to forgo its bottom line just to help the environment. It certainly does show though that a company can boost its profit while also profiting the environment. What will be interesting is to see how Wal-mart walks that line.