ESG News Review 26 April – 2 May 2014
Wal-Mart and General Mills were among the most praised companies last week as both companies announced a commitment to accelerate innovation in sustainable agriculture and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in collaboration with Field to Market, a nonprofit organization dedicated to working across the agriculture supply chain to address the food demands of the rapidly growing population, while conserving natural resources. BBVA has committed a total of EUR 800 million in loans to companies and entrepreneurs in the region of Andalusia; the plan includes the training of entrepreneurs in business schools in Spain and referral service for SMEs brokerage and selection for hiring unemployed. Scientists at UNEP-WCMC and Microsoft Research have presented the world’s first General Ecosystem Model that attempts to simulate all life on earth — both on land and in the ocean, offering decision makers an interactive tool to explore the impacts of their decisions on ecosystems. Veolia Environnement announced that four of its U.S. facilities have been recognized for environmental excellence, achieving certification to the International Organization for Standardization 14001 Environmental Management System Standard.
Apple, Google and eBay appeared among the most criticized companies last week, as they found an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department to end anticompetitive ‘no poach’ hiring agreements. The founder of a Swiss trust company allegedly working with Credit Suisse Group to help American clients evade taxes pleaded guilty, according to court records. Employees of Alstom have expressed fears over jobs as the energy division of the French company is coveted by General Electric and Siemens.
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, France, Spain, Germany, UK, China, Argentina, South Africa, Brazil, and Chile were the main countries of action.
Last week statistics
| Positives | 692 | Companies named | 256 | Countries | 70 |
| Negatives | 772 | Mostly praised | 139 | Sources | 230 |
| Total | 1464 | Mostly criticized | 106 | ||
| Positives / Total | 47% |
These figures show the activity in Covalence EthicalQuote database during the week of 26 April – 2 May 2014.
Historical statistics
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| Positives | 367442 | |
| Negatives | 228518 | |
| Total | 595960 | |
| Sources | 39159 | |
| Start | 01.01.2002 | |
| End | 02.05.2014 | |
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