Here is Newsweek’s 2014 rankings of the world’s largest companies in terms of 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.
Newsweek’s Top Green Company is the media and telecommunications firm Vivendi who earned a score of 85.3 percent. French based Vivendi earns top honors for its embrace of solar energy, which powers 632 of its sites, and initiatives to encourage employees’ carpooling.
In second position is Botox-manufacturer Allergan which earned a score of 85.1 percent. US based Allergan has been working on sustainability for two decades and it was acknowledged for its energy efficiency and waste management.
Adobe is in third spot with a score of 84.4 percent. This US information technology giant was recognized as a pioneer of green building technologies and a founding member of the US Green Building Council’s Building Health Initiative. It is one of only a few Fortune 500 companies to have pledged global carbon neutrality by 2015.
Office Depot and Marks & Spencer were previously top-rated companies that did not make the cut in 2014.
