Green Rankings for Big Business
The non-profit Climate Counts, funded by organic yogurt maker Stonyfield Farm, Inc., last week released its second annual scorecard rankings. The rankings show how some of the world’s most visible companies stack up in reducing emissions and staving off climate change. According to the survey, 84 percent of the 56 corporations made improvements over the last year in their efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and improve their transparency on the issue.
Nike scored the highest with 82 points (out of a possible 100) thanks to its proactive efforts to measure companywide greenhouse gas emissions, establish clear goals to reduce them. The Oregon-based shoemaker also got kudos for effectively communicating is commitment to consumers. Other top scorers included Google, Hewlett-Packard, Anheuser-Busch and Levi Strauss.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, five companies scored one or zero points: Jones Apparel Group, Burger King, Darden Restaurants (which owns Red Lobster and Olive Garden), Yum! Brands (parent to Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC) and Wendy"s.
Consumers who want to take the Scorecard shopping with them now have a couple of options. Climate Counts offers a printable, pocket-size version of the guide for free on its website. The group is also making the information available to cell phone users, who can text "cc [company name]" to 30644 and get back a score for the company in question, as long as it was covered in the 2008 Scorecard.
"Business is being pushed by consumers to do its part to solve the climate crisis," says Gary Hirshberg, Stonyfield Farm’s CEO and chair of Climate Counts. "The Scorecard allows consumers to make good climate decisions in their everyday purchases, and it’s having an impact."
Sources: Climate Counts; San Jose Mercury News