Fortune's Green Giants Aren't All Green
by EcoGeek.org 
on 03.27.07
Fortune Magazine is following what seems like every other magazine out there with its own "first-ever green edition." Among pages on Schwarzenegger's credentials and the new big business of clean technology, Fortune has put together a list of the top ten greenest mega-corps.
While it is nice to see that some of these monster corporations have have green credentials (each of the companies listed has between 5 and 380 thousand employees,) it can be difficult to make the big businesses of auto-making, aluminum refining, and tar-sand mining to sound environmental at all.
Reading the list, it becomes obvious that there's only one way to measure green credentials from Fortune's perspective, and that is to compare each company to other companies in the same sector. Yes, Alcan is greener than Alcoa and Suncor is greener than Exxon. But that doesn't make Alcan and Suncor green.
So while a part of the TreeHugger spirit is alive here, it seems obvious that many of these companies wouldn't even need to exist in a true sustainable world, making the Fortune Green Giant list a difficult bite to swallow.
Making the List are:
"Honda: the most fuel efficient car company in the US"
"Continental Airlines: Worked with Boeing to engineer more fuel-efficient aircraft."
"Suncor: Measures the environmental impact of each project."
"Tesco: Cut energy use and is trying to get customers to think green."
"Alcan: Investing in clean, efficient manufacturing ."
"PG&E: Strategic investments in efficiency and renewables."
"S.C. Johnson: Three generations of committed environmental stewardship."
"Goldman Sachs: Bold climate-change policy shapes major investments."
"Swiss Re: Developing financial tools to deal with the risks of climate change."
"Hewlett-Packard: Silicon Valley's longtime industry leader in eco-sensitivity."
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baby steps, hank! while a truly sustainable world is what people like you and i are after, it isn't the sort of world we currently live in; airlines and refineries aren't going to go out of business any time soon. in the meantime, every small measure that can be taken to make these businesses more environmentally sound should be taken, and it's a good idea to offer companies recognition for those actions (while encouraging them strongly to do more), because that's how you convince the rest of the business world to follow suit. as the bottom companies start to catch up, those who were making greater strides to start with will (hopefully) work even harder to maintain their ever greener street cred . . .
and lo, the world shall be changed.
What, no nod to Virgin Group?
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These are companies that have recently figured out that stock valuations may be affected by green-ness of the brand. To at least try means they're not laying down in front of the bus, as perhaps half the publicly traded firms have been. The gutsiest of them all are the ones that estimate their energy intensity per unit of profit and actually publish the data.
I think what Hank points out is that 'green-est' in your sector does not mean that it is 'green' in the absolute sense.
This devalues the word green. Yes these companies are making improvements, which is great, but if we are comparing them to an ideal, or a model of how things should be, then many will be wayyyy off.
Yes the image and and example will trickle down to other businesses, but if it all becomes just another corporate fad then you're just getting people confused and further from the truth of what is actually produced & emitted.
OH please, if SC Johnson was green, it wouldn't exist. They deal entirely with chemicals of arguable value, and disposable plastics.
So, Hank - what do YOU think are the greenest companies? Are any of them bigger than a breadbox? Any of them actually manufacture things? I'd be curious of your take.