Climate Counting More With Consumer Companies

Posted on May 7, 2008
Tag(s): Events, Greenhouse Gas Emissions / Global Warming, Going Green | | Email this

Yesterday, I wrote about the non-profit organization Climate Counts and its Scorecard which rates how environmentally-minded large consumer-oriented corporations are.

The Scorecard rates 56 major corporations (more to come in next year’s Scorecard) in well-known consumer sectors from apparel to electronics to fast food on their commitment to reversing climate change. The 2nd annual Scorecard, released today, shows that 84% of the evaluated companies have made improvements in their efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and to make information about those actions actions easily accessible to consumers.

The Scorecard allows consumers to make good purchasing decisions that have less of an impact on the environment.

Google, Anheuser-Busch and Levi Strauss had the largest score improvement. Nike passed last years high scorer, Canon, as the top scored company.

It wasn’t all good climate news. The Food Services sector has the lowest average (11.5 out of 100) of any of the eight sectors measured with smallest overall improvement. Five companies scored one or zero points: Jones Apparel Group; and four companies from the Food Services sector, Burger King, Darden Restaurants (which owns popular restaurants Red Lobster and Olive Garden), Yum! Brands (parent to Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC) and Wendy’s.

Consumers can review all the company scores and download a pocket-sized
shopping guide at www.climatecounts.org. Consumers will also be able to look up companys’ rankings by texting from their cell phones so they can make climate-friendly consumer decisions while they shop. An expansion of Climate Counts mobile phone activism program is planned for later this summer.