Top Green Companies 2015 – Why It Matters

Who Are the Top 10 Green  Companies in 2015?

I’m always interested to find out who are the top green companies – it’s an essential part of green living.

It’s important because:

• We make buying decisions every day, and we can use this information to “vote” for green companies by buying their products instead of their less green competition.
• Looking for a job? If you live green, you’ll want to work for a green and eco friendly company too!
• Plus, remember this list if you’re looking to invest.

Green choices benefit us all – and the planet.

Now that we know why this list is so important, I’m going to answer 4 questions:

1. Which are the top green companies in 2015?
2. Why is a “missing” country so worrying?
3. What’s the Net Impact in the US? (and why we need to know)
4. How did Newsweek calculate the results?

Let’s dig right into it.

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Top Green Companies in the World 2015

Here are the Top 10 green companies worldwide, according to NewsWeek:

Why is a “missing” country so worrying?

The world’s largest economies are China, the USA and the European Union (EU)¹.

Yet, in the Top 10 Green Companies:

• 4 are from the US
• 6 are from the EU (half from the UK)
• None are from China.

A country with a dramatic effect on the world economy, China, doesn’t have a single company in the Top Green Companies of 2015.

In fact, the highest ranking Chinese company is #196.

That’s pretty scary!

Top 10 Green Companies in the US for 2015 – and the Net Impact

Here are the top 10 green companies in the US, according to Newsweek (see their methodology below)

1. Biogen
2. Allergan
3. Adobe Systems
4. Broadcom
5. Sigma-Aldrich
6. The Hershey Co.
7. Ecolab
8. Coca-Cola Enterprises
9. Aflac
10. Mead Johnson Nutrition

The top green companies are involved in Health Care (#1 and #2) or IT (#3 and #4).

What is their Net Impact – are the largest companies in the U.S. economy helping or hurting the environment and society?

Well, Newsweek says they are helping.

But only just.

“Greener” industries such as telecommunications, technology, and healthcare tend to have a positive environmental “score”, because they often advance broad-based socioeconomic development while they have a relatively light environmental footprint.

But the oil & gas industry has an extreme net negative rating, given its extractive business model, huge pollution, massive environmental impact, and its aggressive political lobbying to hinder the development of clean energy.

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When you add up the positives, and subtract the negatives, you end up with a just-above-neutral +2.

How Did Newsweek Measure the Top Green Companies in 2015?

It’s actually pretty difficult to measure a company’s impact. There are a LOT of variables.

But here’s what they measured:

• Energy used
• Emissions, pollution
• Water productivity
• Green revenue (from products and services that contribute to environmental sustainability and societal health)
• Green pay (the pay of senior executives linked to corporate environmental performance)
• Board oversight
• Audited environmental metrics

They also looked at the impact of a company’s products and services on ecology and society. For example, tobacco products are rated low because although their environmental impact is lighter than some other industries, their products are a leading contributor to causing cancer and high healthcare costs.

Use This List of Green Companies!

It’s now up to us as consumers, as employees, and as investors, to do the right thing and support these green companies more than their competition.

Live green and help to protect the planet – our only home.

¹ China, US, EU each produced over $17 trillion in economic output in 2014. (To show scale, the 4th largest economy, India, produces $7 trillion).

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