Who's the greenest of them all? That's a question I get with some frequency from reporters, companies, students, and just plain folks who are trying to suss out the green marketplace. There's no shortage of eco-logos, ratings, and rankings ... but not much that's authoritative, it seems. And that's a problem.
This week, in a new report from GreenBiz.com, Amy Hebard and Wendy Cobrda offer what I think is an authoritative answer. They unveil the Earthsense Business Indicator, a set of four metrics that assess companies from the consumer point of view: sustainability, product impact, investment attractiveness, and advocacy. Hebard and Cobrda, whose company produces Eco-Insights, the largest study of its kind (30,000 each wave) focusing on consumers and the environment, applied their metrics to 350 companies across 11 sectors. The result, in this free, downloadable study, lists the top 10% -- the 35 companies that rose to the top. Some of the top brands are ones you'd expect, others less so. Hebard and Cobrda also proffer analysis on what makes these companies rise to the top.
You can also listen to a GreenBiz Radio conversation between Managing Editor Matthew Wheeland and Hebard and Cobrda.
There's much more this week on the research front: The management consulting firm A.T. Kearney offers a new study concluding that businesses deemed "sustainability focused" outperformed industry peers over three- and six-month periods and were "well protected from value erosion." The study was conducted during a six-month period ending last November. Even during the fall -- September through November -- the performance differential across the 99 firms tracked was 10 percent.
Meanwhile, a study on water stewardship by the California Agricultural Water Stewardship brings together agriculture, water and activist groups to explore the ways that agriculture can be both profitable and sustainable, especially through efficient water management. And research from the Rocky Mountain Institute shows that if the energy efficiency of all U.S. states were at the same level of the most efficient 10 states, it not only would reduce consumption by 30 percent, but also eliminate the need for more than 60 percent of coal-fired generation.
Finally, this week: We invite you to take part in still another research project: the Forest Carbon Offsetting Survey.
EcoSecurities and ClimateBiz are partnering with forestry experts Conservation International and the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance to produce an important piece of research evaluating the key issues facing buyers or potential buyers of carbon offsets from forestry projects.The final results will be published and freely available as a downloadable report in late March. Please click here to take the brief survey.
Suffice to say, we'll be reporting the results of that one, too.