Oil Cos. Still Lag In Eco-Friendliness

The president may not think much of climate change, but a coalition of environmentalists and institutional investors do, and they are they are trying to turn up the heat on the companies that are turning up the heat for all of us (allegedly).

Boston-based Ceres this week issued a report grading 100 companies “in the 10 most carbon-intensive” industries in the U.S. on their efforts to combat global warming. The report – which includes a map with dire implications for CEOs who own beachfront property in Florida – rates companies based on a 14-step checklist used “to proactively combat climate change,” scoring them from one to 100.

The good? BP – the former British Petroleum – which earned especially high marks in “management execution” and “public disclosure,” won plaudits for crossing the thin black line of oil companies nearly a decade ago by admitting global warming was a problem. With 90 points, BP was the top-scoring company, towering above it’s otherwise low-scoring sector, oil and gas, which includes such climate change villains as Amerada Hess, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil (35 points each), Marathon Oil (26), and the Williams Companies, which scored an impossibly low three points (tied for worst of the bunch with UAL Corp. – the parent of United Airlines). Also earning high marks among oil companies are Royal Dutch Shell (79) and Norway’s Statoil Asa (72).

The honor roll of climate-saving sectors includes the chemical industry with an average governance score of 51.9 (DuPont was the top-scoring U.S.-based company, with 85 points), electric power with (48.8) and the auto industry (47.9). And though, as a sector, metal and mining earns a middling average score (42.2 points), it boasts two standouts: Alcan (77) and Alcoa (74).

According to the report, those industries not doing enough to keep Miami above water, in addition to oil and gas (34.8), are the airlines (16.6), the food industry (17.6) and the coal industry (21.4).