In episode 272 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Zach Freeze, senior director of sustainability at Walmart. Listen in as Freeze discusses Walmart's Project Gigaton, its recent partnership with Schneider Electric to launch the Gigaton PPA (GPPA) Program, and how the initiative educates Walmart suppliers about renewable energy purchases and accelerates renewable energy adoption by participating suppliers through aggregate power purchase agreements (PPA).

Freeze shares the many challenges faced by individual suppliers to access renewable energy, how the GPPA program helps make renewable energy attainable to any size company, and the initiatives led by Walmart internally to utilize sustainable energy across its business. Furthermore, Freeze explains how the retailer is communicating these sustainability efforts to its customers around the world, how his team is monitoring and publicly disclosing Walmart's progress against these initiatives, and the company's sustainability in 2021 and beyond.

Zach Freeze is responsible for product sustainability, working with buyers and suppliers in Walmart's general merchandise and consumables categories, on key initiatives like factory energy efficiency, chemicals, and packaging. Zach has been on the sustainability team for over three years, and with Walmart for over nine years. He has held a number of roles at Walmart, including positions in environmental compliance and indirect sourcing and procurement.

Prior to joining Walmart, Zach's experience includes hazardous waste brokering, environmental consulting, and product specification testing. Zach earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Arkansas Tech University and a Master of Science in Operations Management from the University of Arkansas.