March 10, 2008—CRO Magazine (“corporate responsibility officer”) has released its 100 Best Corporate Citizens list for 2008. This year’s list focused on large corporations with a major impact (drawn mostly from the Russell 1000 Index), and emphasized environmental and climate change categories over other issues. The list, started by Business Ethics magazine, is based on research and analysis by IW Financial.
The ranking identifies companies that best combine business objectives with responsible practices across eight categories: environment, climate change, human rights, employee relations, corporate governance, lobbying, philanthropy, and financial performance. CRO says that the rankings were compiled “purely by the numbers,” without interviewing the companies under consideration.
Intel Corporation, in the top 20 on each of the nine annual lists, took the No. 1 spot this year. The company also topped EPA’s most recent Green Power Partner List as the largest purchaser of renewable energy credits in the US. Cisco (No. 14) and Starbucks (No. 35) are the only other companies that have appeared on the CRO list each year.
The Top 10 on the 2008 list, from the top, are: Intel Corp., Eaton Corp., Nike Inc., Deere & Co., Genentech Inc., Corning Inc., Humana Inc., Bank of America Corp., ITT Corp., and PG& E Corp.
Perhaps surprisingly, the carbon-intensive utilities sector was the most heavily represented industry for 2008, partially because the rankings’ methodology emphasizes the disclosure of information and policies.
For more information on criteria for the rankings, as well as the complete list and information on the companies, visit the CRO Web site.
