Fortune magazine has published a special report “Going Green” which includes a list of ten companies that the editors feel go beyond what the law requires to operate in an environmentally responsible way. The companies cited as being ahead of the learning curve on the strategic value of environmentalism in their industries include, in no particular order: Honda, Continental Airlines, Suncor, Tesco, Alcan, PG&E, S.C. Johnson, Goldman Sachs, Swiss RE and Hewlett-Packard.

In separate stories, Fortune also notes the environmental efforts of Patagonia and DuPont, along with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Select stories are available online.

In his blog, editor Marc Gunther discussed the top ten picks:

“Compiling the list was challenging, for two reasons. First, so many companies are doing so much good work on environmental issues that selecting 10 green leaders proved harder than we expected. Second, we struggled to decide what criteria to use-?the company with the most impact? the lightest environmental footprint? the most innovative ideas? In the end, we consulted with about a dozen experts and made a bunch of frankly subjective picks. We left out GE and Wal-Mart because their efforts have been so widely covered. We skipped over smaller companies that have been thought leaders like Stonyfield Farms and Shaklee. Why didn’t Starbucks or Whole Foods make the list? Well, if I ran the showA?AA¢AA¢aAA¬A?AA¦they might have.”