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Analysis grades sustainability reporting of 120 companies

RP news wires, Noria Corporation
The Roberts Environmental Center of Claremont McKenna College (CMC) on May 20 released a detailed analysis of the social responsibility reporting efforts of many of the World's top corporations. The five reports contain compilations of Pacific Sustainability Index scores evaluating the environmental and social reporting of the largest companies on the 2008 Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 1000 lists.

The reports score companies based on the reporting, intent, and performance of environmental and social sustainability efforts. The research, based entirely on material released on the firms' Web sites, gives grades of A+ to Johnson Controls, Toyota, General Motors, and Daimler AG in the motor vehicles and parts sector; Stora Enso in the forest and paper products sector; ABB in the industrial and farm equipment sector; Coca-Cola in the consumer food, food production, and beverages sectors; and France Telecom and Vodafone in the telecommunications, network, and peripherals sector.

"In this round of reporting, more companies than ever before are in the top quarter of the overall range of scores," said J. Emil Morhardt, Roberts Professor of Environmental Biology at CMC and director of the Roberts Environmental Center. "Clearly, sustainability reporting is continuing to be adopted, at least in these large corporations." But, as Morhardt pointed out, "Although there is a general size effect in the quality of reporting in most sectors in this sample there are smaller companies that do a very good job."

To create the report's ranking, Morhardt and his team evaluated each company's Web site using the Pacific Sustainability Index including sector-specific questions. The index uses a general systematic questionnaire to analyze the quality of sustainability reporting. The selection of questions was based on the most frequently-mentioned topics in almost 1,800 corporate sustainability documents analyzed from 2002 through 2008 by the Roberts Environmental Center. The company's grades in this report were assigned on a grading curve, giving an A+ to the highest scoring companies and those with scores near it.

"In the current business climate, a demonstration of corporate social responsibility is more important than ever," continued Morhardt. "What we are analyzing is the quality of that demonstration - how transparent the companies are with respect to their environmental and social issues, and how good a job they are doing resolving any problems they currently have and avoiding future ones."

The detailed analyses also reveal what social and environmental themes these companies perceive to be most important to the American public today. The research screened Web site content to determine the most frequently reported topics. Companies with environmental achievements tended to tout their accountability and energy efficiency efforts while socially responsible businesses highlighted their superior policies and care for human rights.

To view the complete reports, visit: http://www.roberts.cmc.edu/PSI/SectorReports.asp.

About Roberts Environmental Center
The Roberts Environmental Center is an environmental research institute at Claremont McKenna College located in Claremont, Calif. Its mission is to provide students with a comprehensive and realistic understanding of today's environmental issues and the ways in which these issues are being and can be resolved. The Center strives to identify, publicize, and encourage policies and practices that achieve economic and social goals in the most environmentally benign and protective manner.

                                Scoring Summary

                                   Highest         Highest
                  Highest       Environmental      Social      Lowest
  Industrial      Overall         Reporting      Reporting     Overall
   Sector         Scores           Scores          Scores      Scores

  Consumer Food,  Coca-Cola     Coca-Cola       PepsiCo       Coca-Cola
   Food           PepsiCo       Groupe Danone   H.J. Heinz     Enterprises
    Production,   InBev         InBev            Company      Pilgrims
    and Beverages                               Coca-cola      Pride
    Sector                                                    Land O
                                                               Lakes

  Forest and     Stora Enso     Weyerhaeuser     Stora Enso   Universal
   Paper         International  NewPage Corp.    International  Forest
   Products       Paper         Stora Enso        Paper         Products
                 Weyerhaeuser                    Weyerhaeuser Plum Creek
                                                                 Timber
                                                              Potlatch

  Industrial     ABB            Cummins          ABB          Teleflex Inc.
   and Farm      Cummins        ABB              Black and    Nacco
   Equipment     Black and      Komatsu Ltd.     Decker       Industries
                  Decker                         ITT Corp.    Komatsu Ltd.


  Motor Vehicle  Toyota Motor    Volkswagen     General Motors China FAW
   and Parts     Johnson         Johnson        Ford Motor     Shanghai
                  Controls        Controls      Toyota Motor    Automotive
                General Motors   Daimler AG                    Koc Holding
                Daimler AG

  Tele-           France       France Telecom    Vodafone     Softbank
   communications  Telecom     Telecom Italia    Telefonica   Carso Global
                  Vodafone     Nippon            Telecom       Telecom
                  Telecom       Telegraph         Italia      KDDI
                   Italia       and Telephone
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