You've Got a Week to Respond to Your First Walmart Gigaton Questionnaire
You don't have a sustainability team. You have QuickBooks and a fuel card. You're not sure if the numbers you have are even the numbers Walmart wants.
This is exactly the situation Emissa was built to solve.
If you're a mid-market manufacturer scrambling to respond to Walmart's Gigaton questionnaire, here's exactly what you need to know — what's required, what gets submissions rejected, and how to get a report done right in under 4 hours.
Walmart Project Gigaton reporting is what this guide is about. Let's get to it.
What Is Walmart Project Gigaton?
Walmart's Project Gigaton is a sustainability program launched in 2017, designed to reduce or avoid one billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its global supply chain by 2030.
That's one gigaton — roughly the annual emissions of 215 million gasoline-powered vehicles.
Walmart hit that goal six years early, in February 2024, with over 5,900 suppliers participating and reporting suppliers representing roughly 75% of Walmart's U.S. product net sales dollars. But here's the thing: the program didn't stop. Walmart is now raising the bar — requiring more complete data, stronger verification, and fuller Scope 1/2/3 disclosures from suppliers aiming for recognition status.
The program covers six "pillars" — energy, nature (forests), waste, packaging, transportation, and product use/design. Suppliers set goals across any or all of these pillars and report annually on progress. The more complete your disclosure, the more likely you are to qualify for recognition tiers like Sparking Change and Giga Guru — statuses that publicly signal your sustainability commitment to Walmart's procurement team.
The Specific Data Points Walmart Requires
Walmart's Gigaton questionnaire isn't a simple form. It's built around the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard and the GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard, and it requires specific data across multiple categories.
Scope 1 — Direct Emissions
Emissions from sources you own or control: natural gas combustion in your facilities, company-owned vehicles, refrigerant losses from HVAC or refrigeration equipment.
What to collect: Facility-level fuel consumption (natural gas, propane, diesel), fleet fuel card data, refrigerant top-up records, on-site manufacturing equipment consumption.
Scope 2 — Indirect Energy Emissions
Emissions from the electricity, heat, and steam you purchase. Scope 2 physically occurs at the power plant — but it's your emissions by association.
What to collect: Monthly electricity bills by facility (kWh), renewable energy certificates (RECs) if you've purchased them, on-site solar generation data.
Scope 3 — Value Chain Emissions
This is where most mid-market manufacturers struggle. Scope 3 captures emissions from your supply chain — both upstream and downstream. The GHG Protocol defines 15 Scope 3 categories; Walmart expects you to address relevant categories based on your operations.
Categories most manufacturers need:
- Category 1: Purchased goods and services (your inputs and raw materials)
- Category 2: Capital goods (equipment, machinery)
- Category 3: Fuel- and energy-related activities (upstream energy production)
- Category 4: Upstream transportation and distribution
- Category 5: Waste generated in operations
- Category 9: Downstream transportation and distribution
- Category 11: Use of sold products (applies to many consumer goods manufacturers)
What to collect: Supplier spend data, inbound/outbound freight volumes and modes, waste diversion vs. landfill data, product energy consumption specs.
What Walmart Asks in the Gigaton Questionnaire
The questionnaire centers on one key question: CC4.3b — Emissions Reduction Activities implemented in the reporting year. For each activity you report, you need to provide:
- Activity type (which of the six pillars it falls under)
- Description of what the project involves
- Estimated annual CO₂e savings
- Scope (Scope 1, 2, or 3 — and which category)
- Estimated project lifetime (in years)
- Methodology (GHG Protocol-aligned calculation basis)
If you're reporting via Walmart's proprietary Project Gigaton Account (PGA) instead of CDP, your reported aggregate value receives a 20% discount — meaning your actual impact is undercounted unless you go through CDP or third-party verification.
Common Rejection Reasons — What Gets Suppliers Flagged
Walmart's quality assurance process includes both internal Walmart review and NGO partner review (WWF, Environmental Defense Fund) for select submissions. Here's what triggers flags:
1. Incomplete or Inaccurate Data
If your submission has missing facility-level data, inconsistent CO₂e calculations across years, or activity data that doesn't match your operational records, Walmart will exclude that data — and may follow up asking for clarification.
Fix: Ensure your emissions calculations are grounded in actual activity data (utility bills, fuel invoices, freight records) — not industry averages or estimates unless you clearly state your methodology.
2. Inconsistencies or Outliers
Walmart's review process is designed to identify outliers and check for inconsistencies. If your reported savings are significantly out of line with your peer group or your own historical baseline, expect a follow-up.
Fix: Use a consistent base year and calculation methodology. Note any changes in your methodology in your submission notes.
3. Failure to Provide Audit Trail
Walmart reserves the right to audit suppliers' facilities, data, and records. If your submission can't be backstopped by actual invoices, meter data, or third-party verification, you're exposed.
Fix: Keep the underlying records behind every number in your submission. A platform that auto-generates an audit trail — with SHA-256 hashed, immutable records — is the difference between a clean submission and a flag.
4. Not Meeting Disclosure Requirements for Recognition Tiers
If you're aiming for Giga Guru status, Walmart now requires:
- Complete Scope 1 and 2 footprint disclosure
- Absolute reduction targets
- Renewable energy consumption percentage reporting
- Science-Based Target alignment (not just SMART goals)
The bar for recognition rises every year. If you're reporting for the first time, aim for completeness first — recognition second.
How Emissa Generates Your Gigaton Report in 4 Hours
Here's the honest timeline for a mid-market manufacturer with QuickBooks and basic operational data:
Step 1: Connect Your Data Sources (20–40 minutes)
You connect QuickBooks to Emissa. Upload utility bill PDFs, your fuel card export, and any waste/transportation vendor statements you have. Emissa auto-extracts the activity data and maps it to the correct GHG Protocol categories.
No CSV templates. No manual entry. No consultant hours.
Step 2: Emissa Generates Your GHG Inventory (30–60 minutes)
Emissa calculates your Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 inventory using the correct emission factors and GHG Protocol methodology. Each calculation is logged with source documentation.
Step 3: Select Your Report Format (5 minutes)
Choose "Walmart Project Gigaton" from the report format menu. Emissa pulls your inventory data and populates the Gigaton questionnaire fields — activity type, CO₂e savings, scope, project lifetime — in the exact format Walmart's portal expects.
Step 4: Review and Submit (10–20 minutes)
You review the report, confirm the activity descriptions match your actual projects, and submit. Every number is tied to a source document in the audit trail. If Walmart flags anything, you can respond with documentation — not excuses.
Total time: under 4 hours. Total cost: less than a consultant's first invoice.
What Happens After You Submit
Once you submit, Walmart's review process runs. Data flagged for inconsistency will generate a follow-up request — you typically have a window to respond and provide supporting documentation. Unresolved flags mean your data gets excluded from the aggregate count.
If you're submitting via the Project Gigaton Account (PGA), Walmart applies a 20% discount to your reported aggregate value. To avoid this haircut and get full credit for your emissions reductions, report through CDP's Climate Change Questionnaire — which uploads directly into your Walmart Gigaton account and signals higher data quality.
For top-tier suppliers, Walmart may conduct direct audits of your facility, records, and methodology. Plan for this before you submit — not after.
Recognition (Sparking Change, Giga Guru) is announced annually and tied to your submission quality and target-setting rigor. Suppliers who report consistently and set Science-Based Targets stand out — and that recognition is visible to Walmart's procurement team.
Your Gigaton Deadline Is Not a Suggestion
The annual reporting window opens each fall. If you received a Gigaton questionnaire, a deadline is attached. Missing it — or submitting incomplete data — puts your Walmart relationship at risk.
Walmart has been explicit: reporting quality and transparency increasingly bear on supplier eligibility and procurement decisions. This isn't a checkbox anymore.
Stop building spreadsheets. Stop hiring consultants by the hour. Connect your data, generate your report, and get it submitted.
Emissa handles the GHG Protocol calculations, the audit trail, and the report formatting — so you can respond to Walmart before the deadline.