Newsweek is in the news on two front.
Newsweek is in the news on two front. First, as you likely well know by now, it has decided to cease print publication effective at the end of this year.
More relevantly, for the purposes of The Blog,
Newsweek has just released its fourth annual
Green Rankings, wherein the magazine, in conjunction with Trucost and Sustainalytics, evaluate the 500 largest U.S. companies and give them a Green Score.
GreenBiz outlines the criteria:
an Environmental Impact Score (45% of the total) compiled by Trucost, involving more than 700 metrics — a comprehensive, quantitative, and standardized measurement of the overall environmental impact of a company’s global operations;
an Environmental Management Score (45%) compiled by Sustainalytics, an assessment of how a company manages its environmental footprint, including its environmental policies, programs, targets and initiatives of both its own operations and its suppliers and contractors, as well as the impact of its products and services; and
an Environmental Disclosure Score (10%), evaluating the quality of company sustainability reporting and involvement in key transparency initiatives such as the Global Reporting Initiative and Carbon Disclosure Project.
Such rankings are inevitably open to debate, but the good news this year is that unlike last year,
where they rejiggered the criteria, we get a better sense of how this year’s results compare to last year’s. And the big story may be that there is no big story; few companies have moved dramatically up or down. But, that said:
Not that there weren’t some big movers, both up and down. For example, the Las Vegas Sands Corp. hit the jackpot, rising 238 slots to #128 on the U.S. list. Goodyear Tire got traction, moving up 178 slots to #74. Hershey’s sweetened its position, rising 172 slots to #256. All told, 26 companies moved up 100 or more places in the U.S. rankings.
Who are the top “green” companies? IBM, HP, and Sprint Nextel are the top U.S. companies; Santander Brasil, Wipro, and Bradesco are the top worldwide companies; and UPS, Owens Corning, and Kimberly-Clark are the top three “transparent” companies in the U.S. As for the U.S.’s least green companies? Black Rock, Alpha Natural Resources, and CF Industries holdings.
