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ESG News Review 16-22 November 2013

Volkswagen was among the most praised companies last week, after they recently announced their plan to electrify all vehicles in all segments so that by the end of 2014, fourteen models from the Volkswagen group brands will be available as Hybrid Electric Vehicles, Battery Electric Vehicles, or Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles. BMW made it their marketing mission to raise public awareness about the importance of “eco-friendly” products as well as the use of renewable energies. The latest Fuel Cell Vehicle by Toyota will begin production in about 12 months. This green car is hydrogen-powered and projected to have a touring range of 500 km, a three minute refueling time, and is claimed to combine conventional engine convenience with zero exhaust emissions. Microsoft is another of the most praised companies last week as they launch new software to make it more difficult for cyber criminals to hack accounts, create illegal copies of applications and to snoop around in accounts.  Finally, General Motors has teamed up with Tarrant County College to provide job training in order to benefit the workers, the employer, and the community. Using grant money from the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), 549 new workers will be custom trained in hydraulics, pneumatics, welding, carpentry maintenance, project management and more.

Samsung appeared among the most criticized companies last week as it has been ordered to pay Apple $290 Million for selling products in the United States that violated Apple patents such as technology and features used in the iPhone and iPad. Samsung is planning to appeal the verdict. A Chevron Corporation worker died in a fire at a cracking unit at the company’s refinery in Mississippi. The board trimmed Chief Executive John Watson’s 2012 bonus in an attempt to hold executives accountable for plant accidents. Chevron also continues to battle Ecuador in court for pollution in the Amazon region of Ecuador caused by the oil company’s activities in that area. JPMorgan Chase agreed to a $13 billion settlement over its sales of mortgage-backed securities. The US Justice Department is “aggressively investigating” possible manipulation of foreign exchange rates by a number of banks, including JPMorgan Chase. Wal-Mart faces sanctions from the National Labor Relations Board for allegedly retaliating against workers who joined union protests last year during the Thanksgiving holiday. Finally, ThyssenKrupp AG, a German steelmaker, will pay 150 million euros or $202.88 million to the German Railway, Deutsche Bahn, for fixing the price of rail track. The state rail claims millions in losses due to the price-fixing cartel.

The most praised companies last week were: Volkswagen AG, BMW Group, Toyota Motor Corp., Microsoft Corporation, General Motors.

And the most criticized were: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Chevron Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and ThyssenKrupp AG.

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

ESG News Review 16-22 November 2013

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 16-22 November 2013

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 16-22 November 2013

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

In terms of volume of information USA, Spain, Germany, France, UK, Japan, China, Switzerland, Russia, and India.

Last week statistics

Positives 795 Companies 279 Countries 63
Negatives 1154 Mostly praised 134 Sources 270
Total 1949 Mostly criticized 136
Positives / Total 41%

These figures show the activity in Covalence EthicalQuote database during the week of 16-22 November 2013.

Historical statistics

HistoryChartRatio_131125
Positives 347493
Negatives 202747
Total 550240
Sources 36641
Start 01.01.2002
End 22.11.2013

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