Twenty businesses that better the planet

The Plenty 20 Award may sound more like a trendy catchphrase than a list of America’s most environmentally conscious businesses. But this isn’t the only surprise to expect from green lifestyle magazine Plenty’s list of 20 businesses that better the planet in innovative ways. Among this year’s list feature companies that the public is used to seeing on environmentalist black lists and not prize lists. Noteworthy among these are large multinationals like Nike, prized for reducing the use of toxins in its production, and Google, prized for its huge investment into clean energy.

Next to this annual top-20 list, Plenty Magazine also recognized 20 dynamic people and 10 innovative ideas that could change the way we live.

The 20 businesses awarded in 2008 are:

A123 System for breakthroughs in battery technology.

Applied Materials – for repurposing its nanomanufacturing technology to create the largest thin-film solar cells in the world.

Arup – for bringing the latest ideas in sustainability to the construction industry.

Bon Appétit Management Company – for purchasing food according to deep-green principles, such as direct purchasing from farmers and artisans located within 150 miles of where each meal is.

Coskata – for converting tires and glass, as well as municipal and agricultural waste, into fuel.

Environmental Working Group – for campaigns pushing cosmetics to be more eco-friendly. Such as their Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, which has made more than 600 companies pledge to replace hazardous chemicals in their products.

Forest Stewardship Council – for providing green stamps of approval.

Google – for investing hundreds of millions of dollars to find a clean, low-cost form of energy.

Home Depot – for demanding fair-labor and eco-friendly practices of its suppliers.

Iberdrola – for being the largest renewable energy operator in the world, and investing $8 billion in renewable energy, mainly wind power, in the U.S. in the next two years.

IBM – for exploring ways to make the entire energy grid smarter, so companies can measure and charge for energy usage more accurately.

Innovest Strategic Value Advisors – for placing emphasis on companies’ environmental, social, and governance issues when investing.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – for providing a scientific basis with which to frame the climate change issue.

Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams – for their eco-designs in upholstery, such as using regenerated fibers and soy-based biomaterials in seat cushions; and using responsibly sourced wood in its furniture.

Nike – for launching eco-products and setting goals for reducing toxic and wastes in its products.

Patagonia– for launching the Footprint Chronicles, a Web site which discloses the eco-impacts of its products.

Pizza Fusion – for using organic, locally-sourced ingredients to make its pizzas, and offering incentives to get customers to bring pizza boxes back.

RecycleBank – for offering recycling incentives by rewarding dollars for the weight recycled.

Swiss Re – for buying certified emission reductions and verified emission reductions to make itself greenhouse neutral.

TransFair USA – for adding flowers and honey to its list of certified products this year.

Read the full list of businesses, people and ideas at Plenty Magazine’s website.

 

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