Survey: Businesses getting greener
Businesses are taking notice of their customers' interest in fighting global warming. ClimateCounts.org's annual scorecard shows 84% of 56 major companies are more environmentally friendly than last year. John Dimsdale reports from Washington.
"We can do it" image from ClimateCounts.org (ClimateCounts.org)
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Scott Jagow: Today, the group ClimateCounts.org issues its second company scorecard. It ranks the environmental friendliness of 56 major companies. As John Dimsdale reports, 84 percent of them did better than last year.
John Dimsdale: The average climate ranking rose 10 percent for companies in nine industries from electronics to clothing to food. Most improved from last year were Google, Anheuser Busch and Levi Strauss. Project director Wood Turner hopes the survey helps reward climate-savvy companies.
Wood Turner: We want the issue of climate change to be something which they're competing with each other on to demonstrate leadership to consumers.
Fast food companies continue their bottom rankings. Turner isn't sure why they pay little attention to climate change issues.
Turner: There's been a lot of scrutiny of the industry in terms of welfare issues, childhood obesity issues and others. It may just not be on their radar screen. They may not be hearing from consumers the way other sectors are.
But Burger King, which got a zero from the Climate Counts survey, says it didn't get credit for new energy-efficient broilers and building designs that are just beginning to show climate change results.
In Washington, I'm John Dimsdale for Marketplace.
