Article Number: 5056
Mohawk ranks among the best when it comes to green, Newsweek lists top 500 U.S. companies
By Matthew Spieler
HICKSVILLE, N.Y.—How important is the green movement? Just ask the editors at Newsweek magazine who spent approximately 18 months working with leading environmental research companies to rank the 500 largest U.S. companies based on their actual environmental performance, policies and reputation.
Published in Newsweek’s Sept. 28 edition, the 500 firms included in the ranking are the largest public U.S. companies as measured by revenue, market capitalization and number of employees.
Making the list from the flooring industry was Mohawk industries, which was ranked No. 227 overall and No. 14 in the “Consumer Products, Cars” category, one of 15 sectors broken out by the magazine based on the FTSE/Dow Jones Industry Classification Benchmark.
Jeff Lorberbaum, Mohawk’s chairman, called the ranking a “great honor. It shows just how important green issues are to our company. I’m pleased with what we are accomplishing with our sustainability efforts.”
Daniel McGinn wrote in Newsweek, “Ranking companies based on sustainability is a huge challenge.” When comparing environmental performance across industries “there’s an inevitable apples-and-oranges element,” noting some industries are far dirtier than others, and that no uniform standard exists for reporting green. In addition, many corporations are secretive about key environmental data, if they track the numbers at all.
Despite those obstacles, he stated, “we worked hard to design a ranking system that makes sense. More than half of companies’ overall green scores are based on their environmental policies and reputation, industry-neutral metrics that help even the playing field for companies in carbon-intensive businesses.”
Newsweek worked with KLD Research & Analytics, Trucost, and CorporateRegister.com to come up with its green scores based on three components— environmental impact, green policies and reputation.
The three research firms scored each company according to their specific methodologies. The results were then converted using a widely accepted statistical technique and calculated as the weighted sum.
Along with the prior named companies, Newsweek consulted with an independent advisory panel on the methodology and score weightings. The panel included an Ivy League environmental professor and executives from climate control groups such as National Resources Defense Council.
Inside the numbers
As for Mohawk, its overall green score was 71.39 on a scale that started at one and worked its way up to 100. Of the three areas the rankings were based, the company placed 45th overall in the reputation category. The mill’s reputation fared even better when compared to just companies in its industry sector, coming in at No. 10.
Lorberbaum said, “I’m excited about the work our people are doing in this arena to maintain our leadership role, not only in our measured results but in our corporate culture.”
So what do all these numbers mean? Joel Makower of Greenbiz.com called the rankings “a near-Herculean endeavor… It may well be the best effort yet to rigorously and comprehensively assess the mainstream corporate marketplace— at least in the U.S.”
He noted when it comes to corporate rankings they rest on any number of such institutionalized biases, “but that’s par for the course. If you peel back the methodology of any massive undertaking like this you’ll find minuscule differences between companies that, depending on how things are scored and weighted, can rocket any given firm up or down the rankings.”
Because it is an imperfect science, Makower, who compiles the “State of Green Business” report, noted while he could “pick apart the Newsweek rankings… I’ll leave the picayune stuff to others. I’d rather step back and admire this first effort, however imperfect, and salute the team for doing what hadn’t previously been done, or done well: brought together a wealth of data on a broad spectrum of the world’s biggest companies to provide a snapshot of the green business world.”
Newsweek’s McGinn admitted that rankings inevitably provoke controversy—“and we welcome that. Our hope is to open a conversation on measuring environmental performance— an essential first step toward improving it.”
That reason alone—the provocation of discussion— Makower said, especially within companies asking tough questions about why they fared worse than hoped and demanding answers is what makes the rankings “a beautiful thing.”
HICKSVILLE, N.Y.—How important is the green movement? Just ask the editors at Newsweek magazine who spent approximately 18 months working with leading environmental research companies to rank the 500 largest U.S. companies based on their actual environmental performance, policies and reputation.
Published in Newsweek’s Sept. 28 edition, the 500 firms included in the ranking are the largest public U.S. companies as measured by revenue, market capitalization and number of employees.
Making the list from the flooring industry was Mohawk industries, which was ranked No. 227 overall and No. 14 in the “Consumer Products, Cars” category, one of 15 sectors broken out by the magazine based on the FTSE/Dow Jones Industry Classification Benchmark.
Jeff Lorberbaum, Mohawk’s chairman, called the ranking a “great honor. It shows just how important green issues are to our company. I’m pleased with what we are accomplishing with our sustainability efforts.”
Daniel McGinn wrote in Newsweek, “Ranking companies based on sustainability is a huge challenge.” When comparing environmental performance across industries “there’s an inevitable apples-and-oranges element,” noting some industries are far dirtier than others, and that no uniform standard exists for reporting green. In addition, many corporations are secretive about key environmental data, if they track the numbers at all.
Despite those obstacles, he stated, “we worked hard to design a ranking system that makes sense. More than half of companies’ overall green scores are based on their environmental policies and reputation, industry-neutral metrics that help even the playing field for companies in carbon-intensive businesses.”
Newsweek worked with KLD Research & Analytics, Trucost, and CorporateRegister.com to come up with its green scores based on three components— environmental impact, green policies and reputation.
The three research firms scored each company according to their specific methodologies. The results were then converted using a widely accepted statistical technique and calculated as the weighted sum.
Along with the prior named companies, Newsweek consulted with an independent advisory panel on the methodology and score weightings. The panel included an Ivy League environmental professor and executives from climate control groups such as National Resources Defense Council.
Inside the numbers
As for Mohawk, its overall green score was 71.39 on a scale that started at one and worked its way up to 100. Of the three areas the rankings were based, the company placed 45th overall in the reputation category. The mill’s reputation fared even better when compared to just companies in its industry sector, coming in at No. 10.
Lorberbaum said, “I’m excited about the work our people are doing in this arena to maintain our leadership role, not only in our measured results but in our corporate culture.”
So what do all these numbers mean? Joel Makower of Greenbiz.com called the rankings “a near-Herculean endeavor… It may well be the best effort yet to rigorously and comprehensively assess the mainstream corporate marketplace— at least in the U.S.”
He noted when it comes to corporate rankings they rest on any number of such institutionalized biases, “but that’s par for the course. If you peel back the methodology of any massive undertaking like this you’ll find minuscule differences between companies that, depending on how things are scored and weighted, can rocket any given firm up or down the rankings.”
Because it is an imperfect science, Makower, who compiles the “State of Green Business” report, noted while he could “pick apart the Newsweek rankings… I’ll leave the picayune stuff to others. I’d rather step back and admire this first effort, however imperfect, and salute the team for doing what hadn’t previously been done, or done well: brought together a wealth of data on a broad spectrum of the world’s biggest companies to provide a snapshot of the green business world.”
Newsweek’s McGinn admitted that rankings inevitably provoke controversy—“and we welcome that. Our hope is to open a conversation on measuring environmental performance— an essential first step toward improving it.”
That reason alone—the provocation of discussion— Makower said, especially within companies asking tough questions about why they fared worse than hoped and demanding answers is what makes the rankings “a beautiful thing.”
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