2011 Southeastern Corporate Sustainability Rankings

 2011 Complete List

2011 Southeastern Corporate Sustainability Rankings Reveals

Southeast’s Top Performers

ATLANTA  (May 3, 2011)— The 2011 Southeastern Corporate Sustainability Rankings (the Rankings) have put a green spotlight on corporations in the Southeast that are doing well by doing good. With more than 135 in attendance, the Rankings Co-founders Stephanie Armistead, general manager of GreenBusiness WORKS, and Mark Callaway announced the standings at an elegant awards breakfast event at the Atlanta Midtown W Hotel heldon May 3, 2011.

The Rankings, now in its second year, were created to inspire, motivate, and create awareness about the sustainability progress of publicly traded companies headquartered in the Southeast. “It is a pleasure to pay tribute to this year’s top Georgia performers,” said Armistead. “These corporations deserve recognition for their success in being leaders of environmental, social and governance (ESG) and we applaud each for their continued commitment in doing the right thing.”

Each year, the Rankings identify corporations in numerical order (No. 1 being highest) and rank them using the metric organization services from CRD Analytics.

The Rankings’ top five most sustainable corporations in the Southeast for 2011 are:

1. United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) - Georgia

2. Polymer Group Inc. (NYSE: BX) – North Carolina

3. Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE:DUK) – North Carolina

4. The Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) – Georgia

5. Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE: HBI) – North Carolina

Corporations considered for this year’s Rankings were required to be publically traded on a major exchange, be headquartered in the Southeast (Ga. Fla., Tenn., Ala., N.C., and S.C.) and have a minimum market capitalization of $100 million as of June 30, 2010. Each corporation was evaluated on its ESG performance using 175 metrics.

“This award recognizes the growing importance of sustainability as a leadership criteria for corporations," said UPS Chief Sustainability Officer Scott Wicker. "We are honored to know that our efforts in energy conservation, socially responsible business practices, volunteerism and transparent reporting are being recognized by the Southeastern Corporate Sustainability Rankings."     

Callaway, a financial advisor who has specialized in socially responsible investing for more than a decade remarked, “It’s great to see these top ranked companies actively embrace ESG and continue to be leaders in corporate responsibility. How companies manage their ESG performance tends to be a strong indicator of good management which affects overall positive financial performance over the long run.” Callaway’s family has a legacy of environmental stewardship.

Intended to be an annual ranking, the long-term vision for the Rankings is for it to be converted into an investable index with a portion of the profits donated to a Southeastern region non-profit organization. For a complete list of the Rankings visit www. southeasterncorporatesustainabilityrankings.netand read Georgia Trend magazine’s featured coverage at www.georgiatrend.com.

Proud sponsors and supporters of the second annual Rankings include the following environmentally-conscious companies: Reznick Group, Servidyne Inc., Grubb & Ellis, ROOKER, Sustainable Options, JustMeans and Georgia Trend. “The firms sponsoring this year’s Rankings were invited to participate because of the resources they offer to companies interested in advancing sustainability,” remarked Armistead. “Brokering relationships between entities adopting sustainability practices and those with the resources to support them is a key initiative of GreenBusiness WORKS. This year’s sponsors provide important resources for any organization interested in accelerating their work in sustainability.”