Newsweek Green Rankings 2012: Materials

Content Section

Across this industry, key environmental impacts are being managed through the implementation of relatively strong environmental management systems that are often aligned with ISO 14001 standards and apply to all operations. As one of the most carbon-intensive industries, most manufacturing plants are, at the very least, expected to have a carbon-management system in place. The majority of companies in the industry have implemented programs and targets to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, often through the installation of new technologies and energy-efficiency measures.

Yet only a third of the companies in the industry have implemented formal programs and targets to reduce non-greenhouse-gas emissions such as sulfur, mercury, and nitrous oxide. Emission-reduction programs are largely operation-specific and respond to regulatory requirements or are part of industry associations’ voluntary initiatives. As well, disclosure is poor on issues such as hazardous waste, quarry rehabilitation, and tailings management.

Key Impacts

• Greenhouse gas emissions and general waste generation and disposal together account for about 75 percent of the total environmental footprint for Materials companies.

• The industry accounts for about 19 percent of all VOC (volatile organic compound) emissions and 15 percent of the total waste generated from the companies ranked.

• About 13.5 percent of the total environmental impact of companies ranked comes from this industry.

Critical Issue Profile: Climate Change

Climate change regulations pose challenges to companies in this industry, particularly those engaged in smelting, as well as steel, aluminum, and cement production. They can also present opportunities for a few chemical companies in this group that offer products to the clean-tech industry. Approximately 60 percent of the companies in this industry reported on the risks and opportunities posed by climate change by responding to the Carbon Disclosure Project questionnaire. Yet more reporting on primary energy sources and details on programs to reduce emissions is required. Steel companies stand out among the poorest CSR (corporate social responsibility) reporters.

Industry Ranking: How U.S. Materials Companies Stack Up

Industry Rank	Company	Overall Rank	Industry Sector	Impact	Management	Disclosure	Green Score	2011 Green Score
1	Praxair	151	Materials	34.3	74.7	91.2	58.2	51.1
2	Sealed Air	174	Materials	47.7	65.7	60.5	57.1	49.9
3	Ball	190	Materials	41.5	66.6	75.5	56.2	46.1
4	Eastman Chemical	204	Materials	31.6	75.3	74.4	55.5	46.1
5	Sonoco Products	224	Materials	39.0	73.4	37.5	54.3	54.0
6	Crown Holdings	242	Materials	41.4	61.5	69.9	53.3	42.1
7	DuPont	262	Materials	39.5	59.7	77.8	52.4	48.7
8	Sherwin-Williams	264	Materials	55.2	53.4	34.1	52.3	52.3
9	Freeport-McMoRan	271	Materials	38.2	56.1	96.0	52.0	49.4
10	Sigma-Aldrich	290	Materials	54.7	52.4	31.1	51.3	49.8
11	Ecolab	292	Materials	53.0	48.1	56.4	51.1	50.1
12	Newmont Mining	311	Materials	31.4	57.9	98.2	50.0	48.3
13	MeadWestvaco	316	Materials	31.0	62.0	78.9	49.7	42.6
14	Bemis	319	Materials	42.2	52.5	70.1	49.6	45.0
15	Domtar	333	Materials	33.9	60.7	61.5	48.7	47.4
16	Air Products and Chemicals	360	Materials	28.5	59.9	78.5	47.7	46.6
17	Dow Chemical	374	Materials	34.9	47.2	98.5	46.8	45.8
18	Alcoa	377	Materials	19.1	64.1	90.9	46.5	45.7
19	International Paper	397	Materials	30.5	52.4	78.8	45.2	47.2
20	Mosaic	402	Materials	36.3	46.5	78.3	45.1	38.6
21	PPG Industries	427	Materials	39.2	42.2	66.5	43.3	45.0
22	Celanese	429	Materials	38.5	46.1	48.9	43.0	37.2
23	Owens-Illinois	436	Materials	39.2	45.4	43.7	42.5	40.0
24	Ashland	437	Materials	40.5	40.2	61.3	42.4	42.7
25	United States Steel	451	Materials	24.0	52.6	59.2	40.4	38.2
26	Huntsman	453	Materials	40.3	42.7	28.6	40.2	38.4
27	Cliffs Natural Resources	463	Materials	3.8	61.4	95.6	38.9	38.9
28	LyondellBasell	470	Materials	41.6	41.7	0.0	37.5	39.2
29	Rock-Tenn	474	Materials	30.9	47.6	16.7	37.0	N/A
30	Nucor	478	Materials	33.4	44.0	4.2	35.3	38.5
31	Airgas	479	Materials	37.6	39.8	0.0	34.8	35.5
32	Allegheny Technologies	487	Materials	37.0	33.8	0.0	31.9	32.9
33	Monsanto	496	Materials	11.3	28.6	73.5	25.3	22.8
34	CF Industries Holdings	498	Materials	32.7	21.3	0.5	24.3	N/A

Green Rankings 2012: Materials

These companies are involved in mining, smelting, and refining, as well as the production of construction materials, packaging, steel, aluminum, paper, and chemical products.

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