ALKHOBAR, 26 June 2007 — How could an organic yogurt company push high-tech firms to change their ways? Think “Climate Counts.” Last week the environmental group, Climate Counts, released its Company Scorecard which enables consumers to factor a company’s track record on climate change into their purchasing decisions. The Scorecard evaluates 56 major corporations in eight industry sectors — from electronics to fast-food to software — on their commitment to reversing climate change.
Earlier this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of hundreds of the world’s foremost climate scientists, concluded for the first time that global warming is “unequivocal” and that human activity is the main driver. Most scientists believe that we have about a decade to significantly reduce our global warming pollution if we are to avoid the most dangerous effects of global warming.
“Global warming is real. We have 10 years to do something significant about it, and we can,” said Gary Hirshberg, chair of Climate Counts and CEO of organic yogurt-maker Stonyfield Farm. “Business must play a significant role in stopping global warming, and we believe the key to influencing companies lies in the hands of the consumer. With the Scorecard, consumers now have the power to make good climate decisions in their everyday purchases.”
Climate Counts is a new nonprofit organization bringing consumers and companies together in the fight against global climate change. It is funded by Stonyfield Farm and launched in collaboration with Clean Air-Cool Planet, a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to finding and promoting solutions to global warming.
“We hope Climate Counts will motivate companies to be more proactive in reducing their impact on climate change,” said Adam Markham, executive director of Clean Air-Cool Planet. “The Climate Counts research found that companies really run the gamut when it comes to climate commitment. Our hope is that the Scorecard challenges them to take climate change seriously and increase their efforts to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.”
Of rated companies related to the information and communications technology (ICT) sector, Canon came out on top. At the very bottom, with a score of zero was Amazon.com. Low performers, with scores under 10 points included Apple and eBay.com. The companies were evaluated on a scale from one to 100, based on 22 criteria that fall within four benchmarks: Whether they measure their carbon footprint; what efforts they have made to reduce their own climate impact; whether they support or oppose global-warming legislation; and what they disclose to the public about their work to address climate change. Consumers can review all the company scores and download a pocket-sized shopping guide at www.climatecounts.org.
Climate Counts developed the Scorecard with input from a panel of business and climate experts from leading nongovernmental organizations and academic institutions. Criteria were chosen for their effectiveness at accomplishing a single goal — stopping global warming. Climate Counts researchers then used these criteria to rate companies based on a point system for climate-related actions and data verified with the companies themselves. GreenOrder, a leading sustainability strategy firm, provided strategic guidance on the Climate Counts program, assisted in the development of the scoring system and verified the scoring results for accuracy.
“When we looked at the field, we saw that no one was grading companies on climate from the consumer point of view,” said Wood Turner, Climate Counts Project Director. “Most of the recent attention has been on what people and families can do to reduce their own climate footprint, such as buying compact fluorescent light bulbs or energy-efficient appliances. But consumers have even more power. They can motivate companies to take meaningful action to fight global warming. We’ve created this tool to help people flex their consumer muscle.”
If you don’t know much about climate change, click to www.climatecounts.org/whatis.html and watch the movie “Climate: A Crisis Averted.” Due to the Kingdom’s limited bandwidth it is recommended that you view the film in “SM” (small) format. Produced in 2006, A Crisis Averted, received widespread media and critical acclaim and showed how individual consumers can collectively change companies, markets and history.
Climate Counts believes that the climate crisis demands a much higher level of public awareness and action than currently exists. While the climate crisis represents a threat to all living beings, it is also a unique opportunity to help improve and enhance living standards worldwide through cleaner, more sustainable technologies, products and services. Working together, consumers and companies can raise awareness, change behavior, and move markets to promote environmentally and economically sound solutions to the climate crisis.
Climate Counts is not aiming to penalize companies which rate poorly in the Company Scorecard. Rather, the organization feels that most companies want to be good corporate citizens, though they often need encouragement and support from their customers to justify taking action. Consumers are urged to support high-ranked companies when shopping or investing.
If you’re wired, you know the companies rated by Climate Counts in the Electronics sector. They make everything from computers to mobile phones. The best of these companies have worked to make sure their latest technology is consistent with current thinking about corporate climate leadership. They’re doing everything from reducing emissions in their production processes, to making products that require less energy, to taking back products that are obsolete and turning them into the next big thing. But the range of scores in the sector is notable; according to Climate Counts those companies at the bottom of the sector may have a different perspective on what it really means to be “cool,” than those at the top.
Climate Counts rated the following electronics companies; maximum score was 100: Canon 77, IBM 70, Toshiba 66, Motorola 60, Hewlett-Packard 59, Sony 51, Dell 41, Hitachi 36, Siemens 34, Samsung 33, Nokia 29 and Apple 2. In this sector only Apple rated “stuck.” Other companies were deemed to be either “starting” or “striding.”
Anything cutting edge from the past decade has found a home on the web. But how do the best-known Internet companies stack up on climate protection? The Internet/Software sector employs an ever-growing number of people and reaches more and more consumers every day. Ten years ago, who might have guessed the impact companies in the sector would have on the way we work and communicate? But with their astounding influence in the marketplace, those companies have also had an impact on climate change. Climate Counts rated the following Internet/Software companies; maximum score was 100: Yahoo! 36 Microsoft 31, Google 17, eBay 2, Amazon.com 0. Yahoo and Microsoft are considered to be “Striding” and Google is “Starting.”
See the complete scored cards on each company at www.climatecounts.org/scorecardlist.php?c=13. Each detailed scorecard list all the company’s brands and has a feature that enables consumers to let the CEO of the respective company know by e-mail that the company’s progress on climate change is of interest and being watched. The bottom line: The window of opportunity to take aggressive action to fight climate change is small and getting smaller — the time to act is now.
