October 20, 2011

An annual ranking of the world’s greenest companies has just been released with IBM topping the list as the most environmentally-conscious company in the U.S. The third annual Green Rankings by Newsweek rate the environmental performance of the biggest companies around the world. Newsweek analyzed companies’ greenhouse gas emissions, energy and water use, environmental policies and programs as well as company reporting.

Newsweek says IBM earned the top spot for a second year because it manages, measures and voluntarily reports on its environmental impact. The company has measured its impact for the last 20 years and says in that time it has conserved 5.4 million kilowatt hours of electricity, cut carbon dioxide emissions and saved the company more than $400 million in the process. IBM also provides software that helps customers identify energy saving efficiencies.

Only five of the top 25 global companies are based in the United States. After IBM, Hewlett Packard ranks 15, followed by Sprint-Nextel at 16, Baxter at 24 and Dell at 25. The hundreds of companies tracked by Newsweek are collectively responsible for more than 6 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year, that’s nearly equivalent to all the emissions produced annually by the United States.