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BENTONVILLE, Ark. - Wal-Mart Chief Executive Officer Lee Scott laid out ambitious environmental goals in late 2005 as the world's largest retailer sought to burnish its reputation against mounting criticism.

Nearing the two-year mark, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is still compiling a major report on how far it has come with the program overall, including reducing waste, using more renewable energy and stocking more green products.

But one division says it is already well under way to meet its goals. Wal-Mart's fleet of about 7,200 semi trucks is already about 15 percent more fuel efficient, and the company knows what changes it needs to make to meet a target of 25 percent by late next year.

The annual savings in carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, would be equal to taking 67,744 cars off the road.

''We're real proud of where we've gotten to already,'' said Tim Yatsko, senior vice president of transportation for Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Industry experts and environmentalists say Wal-Mart is ahead of other trucking operations. The Sierra Club, an ally of Wal-Mart's union-backed critics, says the retailer's demand for vehicles could prompt truck makers to bring more efficient models to market faster.

''They are pushing beyond what the trucking industry has already decided to do. Because of their size, I think they will create economies of scale for more efficient trucks,'' said Daniel Becker, director of the Sierra Club's global warming program.

Wal-Mart's fleet regularly ranks among the top 10 private fleets in corporate America, alongside company-owned lines such as Pepsi, Tyson Foods and Sysco Corp. Its trucks will be driven about 900 million miles this year ferrying goods to about 4,000 U.S. stores.

Becker said he shares union criticism of Wal-Mart over its labor practices but that Wal-Mart deserves recognition for its fuel effort. The Sierra Club is a member of the union-funded group Wal-Mart Watch that attacks the retailer over issues including wages and benefits.

Great Dane Trailers, which is developing a more aerodynamic trailer for Wal-Mart, says the retailer is more involved than any other carrier in developing fuel-efficient trucks.

''Wal-Mart is doing more than any other fleet I know of,'' said Charles Fetz, vice president of research and development at Great Dane.

Analyst Chaz G. Jones of Morgan, Keegan & Co said he is not aware of any other trucking operator pushing as hard as Wal-Mart on fuel efficiency. He noted that company-owned truck lines have more incentive to save fuel because they cannot easily impose a surcharge on customers for higher diesel prices, as many for-hire carriers do. Wal-Mart needs to keep fuel costs capped to avoid raising prices on its shelves.

The targets set by Scott in December 2005 were a 25 percent improvement in three years and a 100 percent increase by 2015.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency estimates that Wal-Mart's goal of 25 percent will reduce its fleet's emissions of carbon dioxide by about 345,000 tons a year. An increase of 50 percent efficiency would cut out more than 690,000 tons a year.

That latter target would cut carbon emissions by the same amount as getting rid of 135,489 passenger cars or about one 225-megawatt power plant, according to the Alliance to Save Energy, an industry group.

The Sierra Club's Becker says those savings are ''nothing to sneeze at'' for a single fleet, considering that new fuel-efficiency standards for passenger vehicles under debate in Congress would cut 285 million tons of CO2 annually in 2020 from the much larger number of cars, light trucks and SUVs.

Wal-Mart's Yatsko said the fleet is already running about 15 percent more efficiently at an average of about 7 miles per gallon compared with a 2005 base of about 6 mpg.

Cutting the average mpg by one gallon saves Wal-Mart $35 million to $50 million a year, Yatsko said.