LITTLE ROCK — Correction: Travis Bright is director of sponsor relations at the Mother Nature Network. Bright’s last name was misspelled in this story.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville is partnering with the Mother Nature Network, operator of the websites mnn.com and treehugger.com, to identify and publicize efforts of companies and individuals who are deploying and promoting environmentally friendly practices.

Called The Leaderboard (mnn.com/leaderboard), the project’s goal is to profile “dozens of forward-thinking innovators” each week. For several years, Wal-Mart has had long-term goals of getting 100 percent of its power from renewable sources, creating zero waste and selling products that sustain people and the environment.

“We have been working on sustainability for several years and we see really incredible, great things happening,” said Andrea Thomas, Wal-Mart senior vice president of sustainability.

The Mother Nature Network claims to be the most-visited environmental and social responsibility online network.

Thomas said the efforts using The Leaderboard will draw on information from the company’s own sustainability Index as well as from The Sustainability Consortium, a global organization that develops and promotes tools to measure the environmental impact of consumer goods throughout their life cycle.

Wal-Mart’s sponsorship of The Leaderboard started last week, she said.

Brooke Buchanan, director of sustainability communications at Wal-Mart, said the partnership with the Mother Nature Network is broadbased, covering issues as diverse as agricultural practices and product packaging. About 100 companies, including competitors, are involved in the effort, she said.

“We’re not trying to make this a competitive advantage,” she said.

Travis Wright, director of sponsor relations at the Mother Nature Network, said the Leaderboard will feature two or three stories each week and will solicit stories and feedback through social media. Corporate sponsors of the effort include Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart.

“Wal-Mart is one of theleading companies in sustainability. When they make a decision about sustainability, it makes a difference,” he said. “When Wal-Mart decides that wind turbines are important or solar panels are important, everybody decides they’re important.”

The network’s aim, Wright said, is to highlight visionary, new ideas in sustainability and shed light on the people and places that are involved. Those could be as varied as a small company setting a record for recycling or doctors using Skype video conferences to help patients in remote locations.

Beginning Wednesday, the site intends to host the first of planned monthly Twitter chats,focusing on events taking place in various communities.

Elizabeth Sturcken, managing director of the Environmental Defense Fund, said Wal-Mart’s latest initiative “is another example of how Wal-Mart is maturing into its role as an environmental leader.”

“It’s a public relations winwin for them,” she said.

Still, she said, as the world’s largest retailer, the company faces huge challenges in reducing its environmental footprint. Based in San Francisco, Sturcken has led the environmental group’s team working with Wal-Mart for the past six years.

“Their main challenge now is to engage the key players,” she said. Those players, she said, include Wal-Mart’s vast network of suppliers.

“There’s a lot of work to be done, but it never hurts to take a pause now and then and get inspired,” Sturcken said.

Business, Pages 61 on 02/03/2013