(Recasts with Scott's speech, changes dateline, previous NEW YORK) By Rachel Sanderson LONDON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. <WMT.N> Chief Executive Lee Scott unveiled a new "Sustainability 360" environmental plan on Thursday, challenging employees, suppliers and customers to remove nonrenewable energy from their lives. The world's biggest retailer chose London to reveal its latest plans, a day ahead of the release of a long-awaited, authoritative report on climate change, expected to give a grim warning of rising temperatures and sea levels worldwide. "It is the responsibility of every corporation to be more sustainable," Scott told an audience of leaders of many of Europe's biggest businesses including food giant Cadbury Schweppes <CASJ.J>, consumer products maker Unilever Plc <ULVR.L> and energy group BP Plc <BP.L> "Whether it's the world's rapidly growing population or the worsening of global warming, we see the need for the sustainable business practices as increasingly urgent," he said. Every week 176 million customers shop in Wal-Mart stores in 14 countries around the world and the company is considered one of few able to leverage its corporate muscle to make direct changes to global energy consumption. Scott launched a first stage of Wal-Mart's sustainability campaign last year and set the agenda for big business by announcing a goal of one day using only renewable energy and creating zero waste. In that effort, the company has constructed experimental stores to test different ways to conserve water or electricity while also cutting waste. Scott on Thursday went a stage further announcing the launch of "Global Innovation Projects" aimed at finding ways to encourage suppliers, employees and customers to take nonrenewable energy off shelves and out of people's lives. As an example, he said if Wal-Mart succeeded in its goal to sell 100 million compact fluorescent light bulbs by the end of this year, it would have saved consumers $3 billion in electrical costs over the life of the bulbs, a feat equal to taking 700,000 cars off the road. In Britain, Wal-Mart's Asda, the nation's second-largest grocer by market share, has also pledged to cut its food packaging by 25 percent by the end of next year. Scott said Wal-Mart was also moving in to the sustainability business, after developing research into LEDs, light emitting diodes used to light grocers' freezers that use significantly less energy than other types of lights. Scott came to London to speak at the Cambridge University event at the invitation of Britain's Prince Charles, who earlier this week when accepting a U.S. environmental prize, called on the United States to lead the war against climate change. The U.N. climate panel, in a long-awaited report due on Friday, will say human activities are causing global warming and may bring more droughts, heatwaves and rising seas, delegates told Reuters on Thursday. (Additional reporting by Nicole Maestri)
