Fortune magazine ranks the most socially responsible companies out of the Global 100, the worlds biggest 100 companies. Interesting to note that #1 and #2 are energy companies. Also worth noting the first US company on the list is Ford at #6. Tied for #98 is Berkshire Hathaway.

 

http://www.fortune.com/fortune/global500/a...ability?cnn=yes

South America pwns the list!

Other groups have tallied corporate sins and sent out press releases about the worst of the bunch. It's good to know who the worst offenders are, but not all billion-dollar businesses are in the same line of work: Big retail doesn't do deep-water drilling; big oil doesn't open sweatshops. By contrast, the Accountability Rating doesn't look at the social, environmental, or ethical impact but at whether a company's management is accountable for its actions. That means knowing who your stakeholders are, making sure management listens to them, and providing public disclosure. "The goal is to create a GAAP for nonfinancial reporting," says Jonathan Cohen, executive director of the William James Foundation, a Washington, D.C., advocacy group for corporate social responsibility.

 

There are disadvantages to that approach. Some might find it surprising that oil and chemical companies have the highest average rating of all the industry groups. But the ratings shouldn't be read as an index of how much good the company does or of how loud its critics might be. They're meant as a measure of how seriously the company's future decisions will consider nonfinancial factors. And by that indication, the future of Big Oil might be much brighter than its past.