It wasn’t top of the environmental news this week, but instead lying there like a late golden Easter egg in between a lot of other uninspiring titbits. The decision by Walmart – the world’s largest company by revenue - to offer finance to its supply chain to encourage more sustainable practices is not so much revolutionary because it is the first (it isn’t) but instead comforting in the way it adds to a nascent trend.

The retail giant, with operations in 27 countries, has embarked on a programme with the bank HSBC to offer preferential rates to companies who meet targets in Walmart’s Sustainability Index Programme, which benchmarks suppliers on key sustainability metrics. I don’t know the SIP programme well, but it is significant that it forms part of Project Gigaton, a Walmart initiative to remove one billion metric tons (a gigaton) of greenhouse gases from the global value chain by 2030 through supplier commitments.

Supply chain finance – in this case Walmart offering credit to its suppliers for working capital – is one way for the private sector to act upon its sustainability vision. The idea is – like so many in the sustainability field – one of win-win: the supplier lowers its environmental footprint (a win for the world) and obtains access to cheaper finance (a win for the supplier). The multinational is likely to win as well, through a healthier supply chain and improved corporate reputation. There are probably some up-front costs for the supplier related to undertaking the sustainability improvements, but they are presumably reasonable (otherwise there wouldn’t be an uptake).

There is an interesting third dimension here - in addition to costs and benefits (wins)- and that is time. Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, some years ago coined the term tragedy of the horizons to describe how the impacts of climate change will be felt beyond the traditional horizons of most actors and that as a result the current generation has no direct incentive to fix its causes.

As the Walmart example suggests, however, companies may not be as afflicted by the tragedy of the horizons as previously thought. They increasingly see that it is in their own interest to engage in sustainable behaviour – either because the impacts of climate change already can be felt and is impacting business, or because investor pressure is forcing companies to take a longer-term view of risk and responsibility. After all, investors look at the risk-adjusted returns on their portfolios. And climate change figures prominently on the risk register of many companies, if only investors care enough to take a long and hard look.

So, I am hopeful for Walmart’s initiative, and hopeful for more late Easter eggs (they have no expiration date as far as I’m concerned). Finance has a substantial role to play in developing thoughtful long-terms solutions to the climate conundrum.