Corporate Responsibility Magazine announced its 11th annual 100 Best Corporate Citizens List and this year the list includes a number of companies whose rankings rose significantly from last year.
“Thirty-six of the Top 100 were not on last year’s list, evidence that companies are increasing their focus in the areas of climate change, environment, employee relations, and human rights,” said Corporate Responsibility Magazine publisher Jay Whitehead. “Between 2009 and 2010, for instance, the top company’s total score improved by 66 percent, and the average score of all 100 companies climbed by 19 percent.”
The 100 Best Corporate Citizens List is based on publicly-available information in seven categories: Environment, Climate Change, Human Rights, Philanthropy, Employee Relations, Financial Performance, and Governance.
According to a story at Forbes magazine, one of this year’s high-profile no-shows is Google, because of their non-transparent policies, and the fact that this list is based on information made available to the public. Three high-profile companies, however, have made the list all 11 years — Starbucks, Cisco and Intel.
The following is the 100 Best Corporate Citizens List for 2010, followed by the companies’ 2009 place on the list:
2010 Rank Company 2009 Rank
1 Hewlett-Packard Co. 5
2 Intel Corp. 13
3 General Mills, Inc. 2
4 International Business Machines Corp. 3
5 Kimberly-Clark Corp. 9
6 Abbott Laboratories 8
7 Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. 1
8 Coca-Cola Co 56
9 Gap, Inc. 24
10 Hess Corporation 15
11 Cummins Inc. N/A
12 Campbell Soup Co. N/A
13 Pepsico Inc. 85
14 Microsoft Corporation 47
15 Procter & Gamble Co. 14
16 Newmont Mining Corp. 39
17 Merck & Co., Inc 4
18 Colgate-Palmolive Co. 73
19 EMC Corp. 48
20 Baxter International Inc. 19
21 Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. N/A
22 Johnson Controls Inc 22
23 Nike, Inc. 26
24 Cisco Systems, Inc. 6
25 PG&E Corp. 28
26 Occidental Petroleum Corp. 75
27 Verizon Communications 32
28 H.J. Heinz Co. 30
29 Mattel, Inc. 7
30 Xcel Energy, Inc. 72
31 Monsanto Co. 20
32 3M Co. 17
33 Texas Instruments Inc. 59
34 Johnson & Johnson N/A
35 Avon Products, Inc. 18
36 Dominion Resources Inc N/A
37 Xerox Corp 16
38 Dell Inc. 34
39 Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. N/A
40 Hormel Foods Corp. 40
41 Eaton Corp. 31
42 Brown-Forman Corp. N/A
43 Duke Energy Corp. 25
44 Mckesson Corporation N/A
45 Mosaic Company N/A
46 United Parcel Service, Inc. N/A
47 Wisconsin Energy Corp. 12
48 Oracle Corp. 43
49 McDonald’s Corp 87
50 J.C. Penney Inc (Holding Co.) N/A
51 Exxon Mobil Corp. 11
52 Starbucks Corp. 65
53 Applied Materials Inc. 69
54 ITT Corporation 54
55 Consolidated Edison, Inc. N/A
56 Chevron Corp. 29
57 Citigroup Inc 35
58 Kellogg Co N/A
59 Air Products & Chemicals Inc. N/A
60 Staples, Inc. 79
61 Sempra Energy N/A
62 Yum! Brands Inc. 33
63 McGraw-Hill Cos., Inc. N/A
64 Albemarle Corp. N/A
65 Raytheon Co. N/A
66 Symantec Corp. 23
67 Weyerhaeuser Co. 37
68 Sherwin-Williams Co. N/A
69 Union Pacific Corp. N/A
70 Advanced Micro Devices Inc. 46
71 Southern Company N/A
72 JPMorgan Chase & Co. 93
73 FPL Group, Inc. N/A
74 Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. N/A
75 Accenture Ltd 80
76 Deere & Co. N/A
77 Medtronic, Inc. N/A
78 Life Technologies Corp N/A
79 Quest Diagnostics, Inc. N/A
80 Allergan Inc. N/A
81 Walt Disney Co. N/A
82 Alcoa Inc. 55
83 Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc. 66
84 Sara Lee Corp. 38
85 International Paper Co. N/A
86 Lubrizol Corp. N/A
87 Exelon Corp. N/A
88 Ford Motor Co. N/A
89 CVS Caremark Corp. N/A
90 Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. N/A
91 State Street Corp. 21
92 E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Co N/A
93 Conagra Foods, Inc. N/A
94 Owens Corning N/A
95 Northeast Utilities N/A
96 Ball Corp. 67
97 TJX Companies, Inc. N/A
98 Boeing Co. 63
99 Sigma-Aldrich Corp. N/A
100 Phillips-Van Heusen Corp. N/A
The 100 Best Corporate Citizens are selected from among the large-cap Russell 1000 companies, based on data provided by leading ESG investor data firm IW Financial. The list, released this year on March 3, is recognized by PR Week as one of America’s top three most-important business rankings. More info at www.thecro.com.