Here is Newsweek’s 2014 rankings of the largest US companies on corporate sustainability and environmental impact. These rankings are assembled in a partnership that includes Corporate Knights Capital, leading sustainability minds from NGOs, and members of the academic and accounting communities. This list is ordered according to a percentage score which is assigned to each company.
Newsweek’s annual rankings began in 2009, but there was no list produced in 2013. While the old approach favored technology companies, the new metrics are based on a different set of assumptions. For the 2014 edition, Newsweek worked with Corporate Knights. Their data-based approach uses metrics and methodologies that are more quantitative and less qualitative.
Corporate Knights, the Toronto-based media and research organization, based the rankings on eight indicators. Energy, greenhouse gases, water, waste, fines and penalties, linking executive pay to sustainability targets, constitute 15 percent of a company’s score. Board-level committee oversight of environmental issues and third-party audits account for 5 percent.
At the top of this year’s list of 500 U.S. companies are Allergan, Adobe Systems, Ball Corporation, Ecolab, Sigma-Aldrich, McCormick, Biogen Idec, Rockwell Automation, Cardinal Health and Agilent Technologies.
This year’s list has produced different leaders than previous lists. None of top 10 from the 2012 list made it any higher than No. 19. Companies like Sprint, Staples and IBM that were in the top 10 in 2012, fell to 32nd, 63rd and 224th, respectively. Accenture fell off the US list altogether.
For the complete list of all 500 US companies click here.
