Major companies ranked on environment: Nike, HP, Stonyfield ahead

The latest climate score card by Climate Counts, out December 7, ranks leading companies across 16 industries including apparel, beverages, and household products on their climate impact and attempts to become more sustainable.

 

Climate Counts is an independent non-profit organization which aims to raise public awareness of ethical consumption. The Climate Counts score card was first released in 2007. 

The organization uses a 0-100 point score, with higher scores representing better efforts to address the issue of climate change. Each company is ranked on the degree to which it has measured its footprint, reduced its environmental impact, supported progressive climate change legislation and publicly disclosed its actions relating to climate change.

The rising trend for positive environmental actions from large brands reflects the trend of "Eco-superiority," identified by trend analysis company trendwatching.com as one of the big consumer trends of 2011. The term eco-superiority refers to the emergence of products that are not only green but are superior to environmentally damaging alternatives and therefore will appeal to both environmentalists and climate skeptics.

The top companies out of each of the 16 sections, and their 2010-2011 Climate Counts scores are shown below (changes from 2009 are indicated in brackets) :

Apparel - Nike 87  (+4)

Internet /software - Microsoft 66 (+5)

Media - General Electric* 78  (+4)

Electronics - Hewlett Packard (HP) 85 (+6)

Food Products - Stonyfield Farm 83 (+2)

Beverages/ Beer - Anheuser-Busch InBev 59 (+5)

Food Services - Starbucks 54 (+3)

Household Products - L'Oreal 76 (+8)

Banks- Bank of America 71 (+11)

Airlines - Southwest 57 (+17)

Hotels - Marriot 62 (+11)

Consumer Shipping - UPS 76 (+7)

* General Electric is a conglomerate with major holdings in this sector and others.

More information about Climate Counts can be found at: http://climatecounts.org/