Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word: for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.
Walmart has a plan to tackle the climate crisis. Can it pull it off?
Every day a seemingly never-ending stream of toothbrushes, toilet paper, tape, thumbtacks, toys and 1 products criss-cross the globe from a network of suppliers to Walmart's more than 10,500 stores.
The retailer, which was for many years 2 (big) in the world until Amazon took
3 crown in August, has a supply chain almost unfathomably complex. And it comes with a huge carbon-footprint. In 2019 the company emitted 17.56m metric tons of greenhouse gases.
Walmart has declared its mission 4 (tackle) these climate impacts, which means focusing on every part of the chain-from the electricity sourced in its stores to the palm oil in the candy bars sold on its shelves. But 5 some experts celebrate the scale of the retailer's efforts, others wonder whether they go far enough.
Over the past years, Walmart 6 (come) out with a slew of climate promises. In 2017, it launched "Project Gigaton", pledging to cut 1bn metric tons of carbon emissions from its supply chain by 2030. Last year it announced a goal to reach zero emissions from its global operations by 2040 without relying on carbon offsets - where companies "cancel out" some of their impact by funding projects that reduce carbon emissions. It's also promised to be a 100% renewably-powered, zero waste and "regenerative" corporation that does more good than harm.
"It's extraordinary," said Michael Vandenbergh, co-director of the Climate Change Research Network at Vanderbilt Law School, 7 we're talking about is one of the largest and most conservative companies in the world 8 (make) a range of commitments 9 government is not requiring them to make."
Yet it's an uphill task for a retail giant with a business model based on providing tens of millions of low-priced products to a growing number of customers. The big question will be 10 this type of business model can persist in a way that aligns with climate science, said Simon Fischweicher, head of corporations and supply chains for environmental nonprofit CDP North America.