Fortune Magazine recently named their top 10 “Green Giants” that went beyond what the law requires to operate in an environmentally responsible way. Fortune senior writer, Marc Gunther, admits that his top ten choices were made somewhat subjectively after soliciting nominations from environmentalists. The big ten, in no particular order are: Honda, Continental Airlines, Suncor, Tesco, Alcan, PG&E, S.C Johnson, Goldman Sachs, Swiss RE, and Hewlett-Packard. In his introduction to the package, Gunther notes that "big business and environmentalists used to be sworn enemies -- and for good reason. General Electric dumped toxins into the Hudson River. Wal-Mart bulldozed its way across America. The response from the environmental movement: mandate, regulate, and litigate." Gunther writes that those days are mostly over: "Today big companies and activists are at least as apt to hammer out a partnership over a cup of sustainably grown coffee as to confront one another in court. No, they do not always see eye to eye, but the areas of common ground are getting broader. Why? For one thing, because there is money to be made." |
