Office sweet: top companies make the SB20 list.Unless they spend a lot of time reading the fine print in corporate sustainability reports, it's hard for green investors to know which companies truly stand out. These days, every company claims to be concerned about the environment. That's why SustainableBusiness.com selects 20 top publicly traded companies publicly traded company A company whose shares of common stock are held by the public and are available for purchase by investors. The shares of publicly traded firms are bought and sold on the organized exchanges or in the over-the-counter market. each year that have either made substantial progress toward driving sustainability through their business or are leading the way with a technology that can make a significant difference. This year, 12 leading social/environmental investment analysts nominated companies; four of them served as judges to make the final decisions. The SB20 isn't a "BUY" list, but companies must be strong financially as well as being sustainability leaders to make the list. It consists of companies of all sizes from many regions. Renewable Energy Renewable energy utilizes natural resources such as sunlight, wind, tides and geothermal heat, which are naturally replenished. Renewable energy technologies range from solar power, wind power, and hydroelectricity to biomass and biofuels for transportation. Renewable energy is the hottest sustainable business A business is sustainable if it has adapted its practices for the use of renewable resources and holds itself accountable for the environmental and human rights impacts of its activities. sector this year; more than half the current list consists of leaders in wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and efficiency. We chose Conergy, REC and SunPower from the solar sector because of their unique contributions. Conergy (Germany) provides the full range of solar options: electricity, heat, hot water and air conditioning air conditioning, mechanical process for controlling the humidity, temperature, cleanliness, and circulation of air in buildings and rooms. Indoor air is conditioned and regulated to maintain the temperature-humidity ratio that is most comfortable and healthful. . It can also combine small-scale wind and biofuels with solar, offering customers a complete renewable energy solution. REC (Norway) stands out as the most vertically integrated solar company, producing silicon, wafers, cells and modules. SunPower's (USA) solar panel is the most aesthetically pleasing, and the least expensive on the market. Another company on this year's list involved in renewable energy is Energy Conversion Devices (USA). Ton Rennon of Triodos Bank Triodos Bank N.V. is a bank based in the Netherlands with branches in Belgium, the United Kingdom and Spain. It is a pioneer in ethical banking. Triodos Bank finances companies which they think add cultural value and benefit both people and the environment. summarizes the judges' feelings about it: "For me, no company is more innovative in renewables. Its solar and battery discoveries will have a huge impact." Spain's Abengoa and Acciona are in the process of transitioning from conventional businesses to a focus on sustainable products and services. Abengoa builds various types of solar, bio-ethanol and desalination desalination or desalting Removal of dissolved salts from seawater and from the salty waters of inland seas, highly mineralized groundwaters, and municipal wastewaters. plants and is a leading innovator in cellulosic biomass. Acciona is the world's third-largest wind project developer and is also a major player in solar projects, with emerging interests in biodiesel/biomass and small hydro Small hydro is the development of hydroelectric power on a scale serving a small community or industrial plant. The definition of a small hydro project varies but a generating capacity of up to 10 megawatts (MW) is generally accepted as the upper limit of what can be termed small . Ormat (U.S.) is the world leader in geothermal energy geothermal energy: see energy, sources of. geothermal energy Power obtained by using heat from the Earth's interior. Most geothermal resources are in regions of active volcanism. , with special strengths in energy recovery. Gamesa (Spain), the world's second-largest turbine manufacturer, has also started a solar division. It is the only profitable wind company right now. Maxwell (U.S.) is the leading company commercializing ultra-capacitors, an important enabling technology that stores energy produced by wind or solar, or in hybrid vehicles This is a list of hybrid vehicles in chronological order of production: Early designs
What's new for Philips (Netherlands), a longtime sustainability leader, is its focus on fight-emitting diodes (LEDs), which have the potential to revolutionize lighting efficiencies. Sharp (Japan) is the world's largest solar manufacturer, and is also an efficiency leader, currently working to make the ever-larger LCD TV (Sharp holds a 30 percent share) more energy efficient and with fewer toxic components. Natural Resources: Water, Forests, Land Development BWT BWT Burrows Wheeler Transform (compression technology) BWT Boundary Waters Treaty (United States and Canada) BWT Basic Warrior Training BWT Bronchial Wall Thickness BWT Big White Truck Water Technology (Austria) is working to eliminate chemicals in water treatment. JM, Sweden's fourth-largest real estate developer, builds on brown-fields, uses high-efficiency appliances and windows, and was the first to develop a green building materials database. Precious Woods (Switzerland) is the only publicly traded sustainable forestry company, operating in the Amazon and re-foresting degraded pastureland. Natural Foods/Natural Products Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is a publicly-traded brand of coffee based at Waterbury in the U.S. state of Vermont. The brand specializes in organic, fair-trade, and specialty gourmet coffees. Keurig is wholly owned subsidiary of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. and Whole Foods Market have made the SB20 list all five years. This year, Green Mountain, through its partnership with Newman's Own, started supplying organic and fair-trade certified coffee to 650 McDonald's stores. "This is the start of bringing sustainable coffee to the masses," says Patrick McVeigh of Reynders, McVeigh Capital Management. United Natural, the U.S.'s largest natural products distributor, moved to a regional warehouse model this year, reducing fuel use. Whole Foods Market is now the largest corporate user of renewable energy, running on 100 percent wind. Interface is a world leader in the production of modular carpet, and commands a thoroughgoing thor·ough·go·ing adj. 1. Very thorough; complete: thoroughgoing research. 2. Unmitigated; unqualified: a thoroughgoing villain. environmental ethic in all its operations. Pharmaceuticals and Banks Novartis joined the list because of the CEO's outspoken advocacy on climate change and the new Sustainable Wage Program. The company surveyed its workers worldwide last year, asking whether they were being paid a living wage. Those who weren't got raises. Suppliers are now being asked to follow suit. Wainwright Bank recently issued the first company-specific Certificate of Deposit (CD) in the U.S. Proceeds from the CD go to support Equal Exchange, the employee-owned, pioneering fair-trade company. CONTACT: SustainableBusiness.com. RONA RONA Return On Net Assets RONA Rest of North America (multinational businesses with specific US/Canada markets/divisions) RONA Roll Over No Answer (telecom) FRIED is president of SustainableBusiness.com, and operates Green Dream lobs and Progressive Investor. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion