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ESG News Review 18 — 24 January 2014

Boeing was among the most praised companies last week as it announced a partnership with Abu Dhabi’s state-owned carrier Etihad Airways and French energy firm Total to develop biofuels. Boeing, with other members of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group, has identified a commercially viable “green diesel” that emits 50% less carbon dioxide than conventional fossil fuels.

At an announcement during the World Economic Forum in Davos Westpac Banking Corporation was named the leader of Corporate Knights’ 2014 Global 100 Index, a ranking of the “100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World”. Also well positioned in this ranking is Neste Oil from Finland.

Microsoft received credit from various commentators after its General Counsel called for “an international convention on government access to data”. Finally, Nike was praised for writing to Cambodia’s prime minister to support a United Nations request that Cambodia launch an investigation of attacks on people protesting low wages for garment workers in the early days of January 2014. Adidas and 30 clothing brands also signed this letter which called on the government “to respect the rights of 23 trade union leaders and workers who have been imprisoned”.

Anglo American Platinum, Lonmin and Impala Platinum were among the most criticized companies last week, after tens of thousands of South African platinum miners went on strike for higher wages. Deutsche Bank is facing an intensified probe into possible manipulation of benchmark foreign exchange rates by the Bafin (Federal Financial Supervisory Authority), according to Der Spiegel.

Credit Suisse was named in the latest revelation from “Offshore Secrets”, a reporting work led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), for allegedly helping Chinese officials transfer money in offshore companies. UBS, JPMorgan Chase, and PricewaterhouseCoopers have also been named in this context.

The most praised companies last week were: Boeing Co., Westpac Banking Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Neste Oil Corp., and Nike Inc.

And the most criticized were: Anglo American Platinum Limited, Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd., Lonmin plc, Deutsche Bank AG, and Credit Suisse Group.

The tag cloud below shows words found in news about these companies.

ESG News Review 18 — 24 January 2014

Words found in news about most praised and most criticized companies last week

This weekly review has been produced using the EthicalQuote reputation index run by Covalence, which tracks 2800 companies worldwide. It gives a summary of positive and negative news published last week about Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), ethics and sustainability.

The EthicalQuote reputation index integrates thousands of news pieces gathered online and classified according to 50 ESG criteria inspired by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and to their positive or negative sentiment.

The next heatmap represents the sentiment calculated for each of the 50 criteria last week. The 50 criteria are embedded into 7 dimensions, following the structure of the GRI. The color indicates the ratio of positive news / total news.

ESG News Review 18 — 24 January 2014

Ratio of positive news / total news for 50 criteria last week 0 % countryofactionBAR130610_70 100 %

The map below represents countries where action described in the news takes place, the color reflecting the ratio of positive news / total news for each active country using last week’s data.

ESG News Review 18 — 24 January 2014

Ratio of positive news / total news 0 % countryofactionBAR130610_70 100 %

In terms of volume of information USA, South Africa, Spain, Cambodia, France, Switzerland, Australia, UK, China, Germany, and Canada.

Last week statistics

Positives 539 Companies 252 Countries 54
Negatives 696 Mostly praised 120 Sources 196
Total 1235 Mostly criticized 120
Positives / Total 44%

These figures show the activity in Covalence EthicalQuote database during the week of 18-24 January 2014.

Historical statistics

ESG News Review 18 — 24 January 2014
Positives 350019
Negatives 207215
Total 557234
Sources 37113
Start 01.01.2002
End 24.01.2014

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