The Greenest Companies in the World

Submitted by: Katie LaPotin

Last month Newsweek published its 2011 Green Rankings, evaluating how green the world's largest companies truly are.  According to the original release, Our Green Rankings, fully posted at Newsweek.com/green, comprise two lists, one that surveys the 500 biggest companies in America and another of the 500 largest companies in the world. Both highlight firms that are leading -- or lagging -- in environmental performance. The data -- crunched in cooperation with Trucost and Sustainalytics, two leading environmental-research firms -- assess companies' environmental footprint (including greenhouse-gas emissions and water use); management (including environmental policies, programs, and initiatives); and disclosure (including company reporting and involvement in transparency initiatives). Underlying data are drawn from a variety of sources, including the companies themselves, and vetted for reliability. The hundreds of companies tracked by Newsweek are collectively responsible for more than 6 billion tons of greenhouse-gas emissions each year, nearly equivalent to all the emissions produced annually by the United States.

 The top 10 green companies (and their scores) in the United States are:

1. IBM (82.5)
2. Hewlett-Packard (75.8)
3. Sprint Nextel (75.6)
4. Baxter (74.9)
5. Dell (74.7)
6. Johnson and Johnson (74.6)
7. Accenture (74.0)
8. Office Depot (73.6)
9. CA Technologies (72.6)
10. Nvidia (71.9)

The top 10 green companies (and their scores) worldwide are: 

1. Munich Re (Germany, 83.6)
2. IBM (United States, 82.5)
3. National Australia Bank (Australia, 82.2)
4. Bradesco (Brazil, 82.2)
5. ANZ Banking Group (Australia, 80.9)
6. BT Group (United Kingdom, 80.4)
7. Tata Consultancy Services (India, 79.1)
8. Infosys (India, 77.3)
9. Philips (Netherlands, 77.2)
10. Swisscom (Switzerland, 77.0)

More information about the study can be found by clicking here.

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