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ESG News Review 15 — 21 February 2014

General Motors appeared among the most praised companies last week, as it co-founded The Natural Capital Business Hub, while its Foundation received a Corporate Leadership Award from the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation. Renault signed an agreement with the French Ministry of Labor to train and hire 800 young people by 2016. Unilever also participates in The Natural Capital Business Hub, and it signed a public-private partnership agreement with The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) “to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers around the world”. Microsoft has started to map favelas in Brazil, as it seeks to “reduce the digital divide across the world”, and it has bought the first carbon credits generated under a rainforest conservation project in Madagascar, reports the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Kellogg Co. announced its global commitment to source only fully traceable palm oil that is produced “in an environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable manner”.

On the negative side, Royal Bank of Scotland was among the most criticized companies last week, as it agreed to pay $275m to settle a US lawsuit over accusations that it misled investors over mortgage-backed securities; furthermore, RBS is expected to announce 30,000 job cuts at its investment banking division. Anglo American Platinum said it was suing the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union for damages and losses suffered over the past three-week strike in South Africa, and that there could be further restructuring and job losses. Three former Barclays bankers have been charged “in connection with the manipulation of Libor” interest rates by the Serious Fraud Office in the UK. Deutsche Bank will pay about 925 million euros to settle a 12-year-old dispute with the heirs of Leo Kirch over the collapse of his media group (Bloomberg). Duke Energy faced several negative comments as groundwater containing unsafe levels of arsenic apparently leaching from a Duke Energy coal ash dump is pouring into the Dan River in North Carolina.

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

ESG News Review 15 — 21 February 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 15 — 21 February 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 15 — 21 February 2014

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

In terms of volume of information USA, France, Spain, Australia, UK, South Africa, Canada, China, Belgium, Germany, Japan, and Brazil were the major countries of action last week.

Last week statistics

Positives 1635 Companies 425 Countries 79
Negatives 1730 Mostly praised 239 Sources 456
Total 3365 Mostly criticized 174
Positives / Total 49%

These figures show the activity in Covalence EthicalQuote database during the week of 15-21 February 2014.

Historical statistics

ESG News Review 15 — 21 February 2014
Positives 354532
Negatives 212970
Total 567502
Sources 37532
Start 01.01.2002
End 21.02.2014

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