The Greenest Companies

The Sunday Times recently ranked the greenest U.K. companies by highlighting the most environmentally aware companies with the most environmentally engaged workforces. Full disclosure: BT Group was ranked no. 7 on the list.

I’ve written several times about rankings and their impact and expressed a level of skepticism. However, this ranking is a bit different. It is the only ranking that I know of that not only looks at an organization’s initiatives and performance, but also takes into account what the employees think about the organization’s environmental standards and performance. I encourage this type of methodology. I believe it is very important to get employees involved, and realizing that they are involved, in their organization’s environmental efforts. In doing so, companies see a step change in the level of interest, commitment, and knowledge about environmental issues among employees and in their willingness to take action outside as well as inside the workplace. .In some ways, talking the talk is as important as walking the walk.

I also like that this ranking includes smaller organizations, many of which dominate the top ten, and was interested to see government in there, namely the UK government's Environment Agency.