Newsweek Green Rankings Published

It’s that time of year again! The fourth annual Newsweek Green Rankings list has arrived, rating the largest publicly traded companies in the United States and across the globe on their environmental performance. Newsweek collaborated with Trucost and Sustainalytics to compile companies’ overall Green Score from three component scores: Environmental Impact, Environmental Management and Environmental Disclosure, weighted at 45%, 45% and 10% respectively.

The top 5 U.S. Companies are:

1. IBM
2. Hewlett-Packard
3. Sprint Nextel
4. Dell
5. CA Technologies

To read more about the top 15 U.S. companies and see their scores, please click here.

The top 5 global companies are:

1. Santander Brasil
2. Wipro
3. Bradesco
4. IBM
5. National Australia Bank

To read more about the top 15 global companies and see their scores, please click here.

Companies are also ranked according to industry, including Consumer Goods, Healthcare, Energy, Professional Services and Utilities (20 total). There are even lists such as Least Green Companies (BlackRock), Most Transparent Companies (UPS) and Reputation and Reality Winners list (IBM).

Scores were calculated using the same methodology as 2011 for comparability, in order to create a baseline for these companies and provide an environmental benchmarking tool to them and other stakeholders. To see the full lists please click here.

What do you think? Any surprises from the 2011 rankings? Do you agree or disagree with the top ranked companies? Least green companies? Let us know!

HP and Dell switch places atop Newsweek Green Rankings

The second annual Newsweek Green Rankings debuted today, announcing Dell (100 score) as taking over the top spot from HP (99.32 score). Rounding out the top five are IBM, Johnson & Johnson and Intel (same companies as last year, but in a different order).

Newsweek’s Kathy Deveny had this to say about the technology companies’ monopoly of the top five spots two years in a row:

“Tech companies dominated this year’s Green Rankings — in part because they make low-impact products, like software, that inevitably have a smaller environmental footprint than, say, a utility (though PG&E did hit No. 20 on the list, thanks to a commitment to renewable energy.) But bottom-line considerations are a big part of what’s driving tech companies in the green direction. In their quest to create products that are cheaper to manufacture and operate, tech firms are devising solutions that have the added benefit of saving energy or reducing waste.” (GreenBiz)

Newsweek also announced the Top 10 greenest companies in the world: IBM, HP, Johnson & Johnson, Sony, GSK, Novartis, Deutsche Telekom, Panasonic, HSBC Holdings and Toshiba. Newsweek ranks companies based on three specific categories: Environmental Impact Score, Green Policies Score and Reputation Survey Score. Newsweek introduced this year’s rankings as follows: “NEWSWEEK’s 2010 Green Rankings is a data-driven assessment of the largest companies in the U.S. and in the world. Our goal was to cut through the green chatter and quantify the actual environmental footprints, policies, and reputations of these big businesses. To do this, we teamed up with three leading environmental research organizations to create the most comprehensive rankings available.”

To read the full article and see the complete rankings, please click here. To read GreenBiz’s take on this year’s rankings, please click here.  
 

After reviewing the list and the methodologies, what do you think? Did Newsweek get it right this year? Do you believe they stayed true to their opening remarks of ‘cutting through the green chatter’ and quantifying the data? Discuss!

Apple Should Take a Bite at Sustainability Reporting.

Not long ago, Apple was on the front line of keeping up with their competitors at trying to be the greenest electronics company. When Apple became the first electronics company to eliminate PVC plastic and brominated flame retardants (BRF’s) the world noticed that they were taking steps to become among the most environmentally conscious in their industry. Apple’s recent activity, however, would suggest they are lagging behind their competitors in their commitment to sustainability. Apple is actively opposing two shareholder petitions to embrace sustainability reporting.

Sustainability reports are one of the most important ways businesses can transparently demonstrate their commitment to sustainability. Without them, key stakeholders, including shareholders, customers and suppliers, can’t be sure whether the company can support its sustainability claims.

Michael Muyot, President of CRD Analytics, recently analyzed and compared environmental, social, governance and financial metrics contained in sustainability reports of the leading electronics companies. According to Muyot, IBM is considered a “champion” in environmental and governance because of their unfailing transparency, while HP scored highest in social performance. According to Muyot, “HP boasted a strong social performance score due to robust social policies and above industry average performance on workplace safety and employment creation metrics.” Apple ranked below Dell in all categories.

While Apple has strong financial performance, shareholders and other interested stakeholders, it has a great opportunity to reignite its early commitment to sustainability and at the same time elevate its sustainability performance.

– Ellen Stock.

Six Thousand US Companies Support Climate Change Legislation

Last week, SocialFunds.com ran an article stating that six thousand US companies are in support of climate change legislation. This number came from an analysis conducted by American Businesses for Clean Energy (ABCE) where they tallied up membership in seven coalitions and initiatives, including We Can Lead and the US Climate Action Partnership.

These companies employ an estimated 3.5 million people, represent more than $2.6 trillion in market cap and totaled $3.5 trillion in estimated revenue in 2009. Of these companies, 21 were Fortune 100 companies and 49 were Fortune 500 companies, including Target, Boeing, General Electric, Ford, IBM and United Technologies.

Christopher Van Atten of ABCE said “This unprecedented outpouring of business support for real leadership from the White House and US Senate on clean energy and climate should be a wake up call for elected officials in Washington” (SocialFunds.com).

To read the full article please click here.

What do you think? Is this analysis enough to make the government stand up and take notice? What does it really say about the corporate world’s stance on energy and climate change? Let’s hear your thoughts!

Winning Partnerships

When an advocacy group works together with a corporation to come up with commendable policy, great things can happen—socially, environmentally and economically—for both organizations. 

Although corporations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) often seem ethically opposed, now more than ever, successful businesses are realizing that social, environmental and economic responsibility can help their bottom line by boosting brand reputation, lowering waste & energy costs, and tapping the socially responsible investing market, among other things.  Businesses can gain quite a lot from employing the expertise of NGOs to become more socially and environmentally responsible.

Alternatively, NGOs have come to the understanding that it is easier to create change in alignment with their mission if they work with corporations instead of fighting against them.  In addition, by helping business, NGOs can sustain themselves economically with the money they receive for their services… which also helps them to continue their mission.

Here are some examples of Win-Win partnerships between advocacy groups and corporations: