At last week’s ‘gameplan’ summit on sustainability in Burlington, VT, some of the leading voices in the environmental community took time to acknowledge Wal-Mart as a real agent of positive change. For all the ways in which the mega-uber-store is portrayed as a villain- and anyone who’s seen the documentary ‘The High Cost of Low Price‘ knows it’s often justified- Wal-Mart has, quite surprisingly, become one of the most forward-thinking businesses when it comes to green initiatives. Now comes word that Wal-Mart will force its suppliers to provide detailed information about the environmental impact of each product it sells.

As Jay Yarow writes for Business Insider, “the program will force suppliers to look at greenhouse gases emitted at each step along the way of producing a product. Wal-Mart will be sending out questionaires to its suppliers next month, to assess the difficulty of the program. Then, in the next two to three years, labels about the “sustainability” of products will appear on Wal-Mart goods.”

Skeptics are quick to point out that Wal-Mart is making a business decision (tightening up the efficiency of the supply chain) rather than a moral one. But to care about the ‘why’ misses the point- we welcome a company of Wal-Mart’s size, with its scope of influence, demonstrating “how measuring sustainability can drive innovation in the supply chain and in products consumers purchase.”

Going green is going green, and, you just might be surprised to learn, Wal-Mart is doing a pretty good job.