There's a great new web resource called Climate Counts.

Climate Counts is a collaborative effort to bring consumers and companies together in the fight against global climate change. We are a nonprofit organization funded by Stonyfield Farm…launched in collaboration with Clean Air-Cool Planet, a leading non-profit organization dedicated to finding and promoting solutions to global warming…

Our goal is to motivate deeper awareness among consumers-not only that the issue of climate change demands their attention, but also that they have the power to support companies that take climate change seriously - and avoid those that don't. When consumers take action and raise their voices on issues that matter to them, businesses pay attention. A loud and clear consumer movement that demands more aggressive corporate action on climate change will not fall on deaf ears.

The great thing about Climate Counts is the fact that they rate major consumer brands on their climate commitments and performance using a comprehensive and consistent set of metrics.

Climate Counts use a 0-to-100 point scale and 22 criteria to determine if companies have:

• MEASURED their climate "footprint"
• REDUCED their impact on global warming
• SUPPORTED (or suggest intent to block) progressive climate legislation
• Publicly DISCLOSED their climate actions clearly and comprehensively

As y'all know, I gave Nike kudos when they recently released their 2005-06 Corporate Responsibility Report and announced climate neutral goals. Curious to see what a more objective review of Nike might reveal, I checked out their rating on Climate Counts. With a score of 73 and a "striding" rating, they seem to be doing pretty well:

• Nike has been measuring the company’s impact on global warming annually since 1998 (18 of 22 possible points)
• Nike has established clear goals to reduce the company’s energy use, and the company has reduced its impact on global warming (i.e. its greenhouse gas emissions or climate footprint). The company also encourages its employees to reduce their impact on global warming via their transportation choices (45 of 56 possible points)
• Climate Counts found no public information to suggest that Nike supports public policy that addresses climate change (0 out of 10 possible points)
• Nike has made public information available on its efforts to address global warming (11 of 12 possible points)

If y'all wonder how Nike rates among the 56 companies on the current Climate Counts scorecard, they rank second behind Canon. Here are the top-10 rated consumer brands:

1. Canon (77 points)
2. Nike (73)
3. Unilever (71)
4. IBM (70)
5. Toshiba (66)
6. Stonyfield Farm (63)
7. General Electric (61)
8. Motorola (60)
9. Hewlett-Packard (59)
10. Coca-Cola and News Corp (57)

Interesting to note that Stonyfield Farm, the funder behind Climate Counts, only ranks 6th (they fell short on general goals to reduce the company’s energy use, and reducing its impact on global warming). That transparency and objectivity tells me that Climate Counts–and Stonyfield Farm–are on to something here.

Stay tuned.

Carbon Neutral Journal's tips are brought to you by Nuts & Bolts.

Popularity: 6%