ESG News Review 24 — 30 May 2014

Nestlé was among the most praised companies last week as it is supporting a new strategy organized by the World Cocoa Foundation to promote sustainability in the cocoa supply chain in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana; the plan, named ‘CocoaAction’, will help to coordinate and align the sustainability efforts of the world’s largest suppliers and buyers of cocoa. General Electric has committed to creating 1,000 new jobs in France if it manages to acquire Alstom’s energy business. Xcel Energy announced today that, as of 2013, it has reduced carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 20 percent since 2005, exceeding President Obama’s goal of a 17 percent reduction by 2020. PepsiCo and the PepsiCo Foundation are donating USD $300,000 to support international relief efforts in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina following massive flooding that has caused widespread devastation. The first phase of the CO2ALAGAEFIX project started in Andalusia with the participation of Iberdrola; this project’s main goal is the fixation and capturing of CO2 from electricity power plants through the cultivation of microalgae.

GlaxoSmithKline appeared among the most criticized companies last week as it faces a criminal probe by The Serious Fraud Office in the U.K., after allegations that some of its employees bribed doctors, hospitals and medical associations to boost sales in China. Siemens plans to cut 12,000 jobs worldwide as part of a restructuring plan, its CEO Joe Kaeser told analysts and investors in New York. According to the Wall Street Journal, U.S. authorities are seeking more than $10 billion from BNP Paribas to settle federal and state investigations into dealings with countries such as Sudan, Iran and Cuba which are under U.S. sanctions. In the U.S. the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said more fatal accidents could be linked to a safety defect on some of General Motors’s cars. Royal Bank of Scotland is expected to cut hundreds of jobs in the United States over the next two years as it plans to reduce its mortgage trading business.

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, China, Spain, UK, Germany, Switzerland, India, and Canada were the main countries of action.

Last week statistics

These figures show the activity in Covalence EthicalQuote database during the week of 24 – 30 May 2014.

Historical statistics

Â
Positives	371198
Negatives	234092
Total	605290
Sources	39624
Start	01.01.2002
End	30.05.2014
Â	Â

Subscribe to receive this weekly ESG News Review by email.