HOW THEY WERE RATED
1. Vestas Wind Systems Vestas is the leading manufacturer of wind turbines in the world. The Danish company has more than 30,000 wind turbines generating electricity globally and its high-tech systems are 80% recyclable.

But it has not come top in the global ranking just because of the products it makes. It is also because Vestas sources 68% of its energy requirements from renewable sources. Furthermore, the turbines generate in six to eight months enough energy to manufacture, transport and take the products down.

This makes the turbines carbon-neutral within that time frame.

2. Svenska Cellulosa Swedish company SCA makes everything from nappies, sanitary towels and tissues to packaging, papers and pulp. It is Europe's largest private forest owner, all of which is managed to FSC standard. All wood supplied to its mills to produce papers must meet FSC criteria.

In addition, the company has a commitment to using a high proportion of recycled fibre in its tissue products. It has clear policies on avoiding illegal logging and others covering water emissions. It is replacing oil and coal with some carbon-neutral fuels such as wood residue and biofuels. SCA also has high rates of waste recovery.

3. ABN-Amro The Dutch banking group takes the number three spot in the world rankings. A key objective of the company is to integrate environmental issues into all business decisions to ensure its contribution to a sustainable society.

The firm's external policy is aimed at predicting environmental developments related to its commercial activities.

ABN has developed environmental and social risk policies covering the oil and gas sector, mining, forestry industries, dams and nuclear power.

4. MTR This Hong Kong-based railway company is a founding GLOBAL TOP TEN signatory of the HK Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) charter. It is committed to providing leadership in CSR practices and promoting the principles of responsibility by managing its environmental impacts.

The company, which carries an average 2.5 million passengers every weekday, considers the life-cycle of its products through a "cradleto-grave" approach.

5. Ericsson The Swedish telecoms group is involved in a Design for Environment programme, which gives product designers guidelines on environmental design with an emphasis on reducing energy consumption.

Ericsson also addresses the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) initiative, which aims to minimise the impact of electronic goods on the environment by increasing recycling. It has carried out in-depth life-cycle analysis (LCA) assessments in its 3G system, and independent reviews have shown a positive environmental outcome can be achieved.

6. Westpac Banking Sustainability is integral to the Australian bank's values and core business strategy.

The company has adopted the Equator Principles, a framework for managing environmental and social risk in project finance. Through BT Financial Group, it offers a range of socially responsible investment products.

7. Kingfisher The highest-ranked British company (see below).

8. Philips The Dutch electronics company has a policy of embedding sustainability into its organisation and culture, product design, manufacturing processes and business strategy. Specific sustainability issues addressed include the energy efficiency of buildings, with a goal of zero net-energy buildings, energy efficiency and chemical content of products, recycling schemes and life-cycle analysis.

9. BT Group The second highest-ranked British company (see below).

10. Matsushita The Japanese electronics company designs products with improved environmental efficiency and with minimal impact on the environment in mind. It also creates products that solve or address environmental problems.

10. Sanyo Another Japanese electronics company, Sanyo incorporates sustainability into its business. It assesses the impact of products by using a product certification system. It has zero emission targets in the areas of greenhouse gases, waste and chemical substance emissions, and evidence that progress is being made towards these targets.

The company currently recycles 99.8% of its waste.

10. ABB Swiss electronics company ABB aims to become a carbon-neutral organisation. The company carries out a lifecycle assessment, including its contributions to global warming and ozone depletion, on all major products.

The company aims to increase its use of recycled or reusable materials.

SELECTED BRITISH COMPANIES Kingfisher The owner of the DIY-chain B&Q takes the number-one spot due to its ambitious targets for zero waste at its shops and exceptional rates of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification of timber. B&Q UK currently sources over 70% of its timber from FSC sources. Europe's largest home-improvement retailer works with WWF and the Tropical Forest Trust on timber sourcing issues.

It also has a proactive stance on chemicals. All of Kingfisher's operating companies are required to have an action plan in place by 2008 to identify products containing certain chemicals and work with vendors to investigate opportunities for removal or substitution.

BT Group The telecoms group signed a three-year electricity supply contract in 2005 that provides nearly all of BT's UK electricity from renewable sources and combined heat and power (CHP) plants.

In addition, through energy efficiency, BT has exceeded its targets for reducing the use of electricity in its wholesale estate. It also scores highly on green procurement, water and waste minimisation strategies.

BP Despite coming under fire for oil leaks and the Texas city oil refinery blast, the energy giant comes in fourth.

BP's first target, set in 1997, was to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 10% below its 1990 emissions by 2010. BP achieved its target at the end of 2001. BP was an early critic of the oil industry lobby group, the Global Climate Coalition, which sought to dispute the evidence of global warming and undermine the Kyoto Protocol.

In 2005, BP Alternative Energy was launched to provide low-carbon power generation solutions and, in 2006, BP launched a biofuels business to provide low carbon solutions for transport.

SELECTED BRITISH COMPANIES Unilever The consumer goods giant incorporates environmental sustainability into its overall business strategy. It pioneered a zero industrial waste policy, initiated a project to develop an approach towards zero-effluent factories and is rolling out globally-applicable agricultural practice guidelines. It participates in a project to develop common approaches to sustainability and is implementing a Sustainable Water Initiative.

BSkyB The media group encourages the use of environmentally friendly materials, is a member of the Climate Group and was the first major media company to make a commitment to becoming carbonneutral. It aims to achieve this through energy efficiency, energy reduction and carbon offsets.

Sky already purchases 100% renewable energy in England and Wales. Its product includes research into an automatic standby facility for set-top boxes.

M&S Group Marks & Spencer is committed to using sustainable raw materials for its products.

This includes sustainable agricultural sourcing and setting of its own standards, and a commitment to retail-certified organic products. It sources sustainable fish certified to the MSC standard, FSC certified timber for garden furniture and has a policy on packaging, refrigeration and logistics. It recently launched an ethical fund.

HOW THE COMPANIES WERE RATED The ranking is based on a wide range of objective criteria set out by the Ethical Investment Research Service and the London Independent. Researchers looked at practices such as management systems, waste production and water use, and improvements related to climate change.

Involvement in positive technologies such as renewable energy, or incidents of serious environmental damage, were also studied. Issues particular to certain sectors were also taken into account.