The impact of companies and consumers on global climate change

This report details company ratings on climate protection which are based on a scoring process which screens publicly available information against 22 criteria drawn from scientific climate and corporate performance tools.

The authors argue major companies can have a profound influence in reducing the climate crisis. The creation, manufacturing, distribution, marketing and sale of products all contribute significantly to global warming pollution. While a number of companies are playing a leadership role in addressing climate change, others are behind the curve.

The results of the scoring vary from sector to sector,  reflecting both the different degrees to which corporations focus on climate issues and  climate reporting and the extent to which different sectors have an impact on climate change. Furthermore, results make it clear that significant work remains to be done
across all sectors.

• The company with the highest overall score on a scale of 0 to 100 (100 being the highest) is
  electronics giant Canon with a score of 77. The only other three companies to score 70 or
  above were Nike (Apparel/Accessories) with 73, Unilever (Food Products) with 71, and IBM
  (Electronics/Computer) with 70
• Twelve companies scored a total of 2 points or lower, with four of those companies falling within the six-company Food Services sector and three of them falling within the seven-company Apparel/Accessories sector
• Six out of 12 companies in the  Electronics/Computer sector scored 50 points or higher.

The score card demonstrates that a long-time track record of social responsibility does not always translate into climate  leadership. Similarly, companies with environmentally friendly policies and programs in force, did not automatically rate high on the Climate Counts scorecard, as many of the programs we reviewed appeared limited in  scope, and not of the scale necessary to truly make a measurable difference in reducing climate change.