ESG News Review 19 — 25 October 2013

Volkswagen was among the most praised companies last week, as workers voted in favor of a collective agreement in Navarra (Spain), while its Swedish truck-maker affiliate announced more orders for its engines that meet tighter European emissions regulation. Volkswagen India received a Certificate of Appreciation on “Promoting Water Use Efficiency in Urban Sector to Address Climate Change” for its ‘Think Blue. Factory’, a global campaign that aims to reduce the impact of production on the environment by 25% by 2018. National Grid opened a Sustainability Hub in Massachusetts to provide consumers with education about energy efficiency and emerging energy technologies, in partnership with Clark University. The Coca-Cola Company was included in the “2013 World’s Best Multinational Workforces” report that has just been released by the Great Place to Work organization. Tiffany & Co added a new engagement section on its website including a sustainability chapter detailing its sourcing of gemstones and precious metals. Hennes & Mauritz’s employees and customers are invited to choose the global issues that the H&M Conscious Foundation should address.

Among the most criticized companies last week was JPMorgan Chase after it reached a tentative deal with the U.S. Justice Department to pay $13 billion to settle claims over its sale of toxic mortgage-backed securities, with $9 billion in fines and $4 billion in relief for suffering homeowners. Other banks, including UBS and Bank of America, are also being investigated by the Justice Department on that subject. GlaxoSmithKline revealed that sales in China have fallen by 61 per cent after it was targeted by a corruption investigation. Four UBS employees are being investigated in Germany, while an ex-employee was arrested in Italy because they are accused of having helped clients escape their fiscal obligations.  UBS is also suspected by the Swiss stock exchange of violating financial reporting rules. Facebook could face investigation in Ireland over PRISM data following the demand of a group of law students from Austria, and the company generated controversies over the publishing of violent videos on the site.

The most praised companies last week were: Volkswagen AG, National Grid plc, The Coca-Cola Company, Tiffany & Co., and H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB.

And the most criticized were: JPMorgan Chase & Co., GlaxoSmithKline plc, UBS AG, Bank of America Corporation, and Facebook, Inc.

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

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.

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

Ratio of positive news / total news 0 % 100 %

In terms of volume of information USA, Spain, China, Australia, UK, Bangladesh, Canada, and India.

Last week statistics

These figures show the activity in Covalence EthicalQuote database during the week of 19 – 25 October 2013.

Historical statistics

Positives	344711
Negatives	199330
Total	544041
Sources	36114
Start	01.01.2002
End	25.10.2013

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