Most Read Sustainable Business Stories of 2011

by | Dec 30, 2011

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Every day this week we’ve been looking at a different aspect of environmental and sustainability management and counting down the top stories that grabbed your attention this year. Today we look at the most popular sustainable business stories that didn’t fall into the previous categories of energy management, paper and packaging or finance and reporting.

The resulting lists shows your varied interests, from policy and enforcement to strategy, green building, renewable energy and waste management. And company rankings continue to garner lots of attention, as readers check out how their companies – and their competitors – fare from year to year.

Here are the top 15 sustainable business stories, based on reader interest:

15: New Jersey Quits RGGI, Bans Coal Plants

Governor Chris Christie pulled New Jersey from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the only mandatory cap-and-trade program in the U.S., while promising to ban new coal-fired plants in the state…

14: Report: Fracking’s ‘Radioactive Wastewater’ Discharged into Drinking Water Supplies

The natural gas drilling process known as fracking poses far more danger to the environment and health than previously understood, the New York Times reported…

13: Does Corporate Social Responsibility Increase Profits?

Ron Robins, founder and analyst at Investing for the Soul, said that linking profit growth to the abstract variables of CSR is a challenging task…

12: Green Consumption and Green Manufacturing

David Dornfeld, director of the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Sustainability at UC Berkeley, analyzed the influence of design vs manufacturing on life time product energy and resource impact…

11: Apple Worst of ‘Dirty’ Cloud Companies, Greenpeace Says

Apple got the lowest ratings in a Greenpeace report that claims cloud computing companies are perpetuating the use of fossil fuels…

10: Obama Launches ‘Better Buildings Initiative’

The president announced the Better Buildings Initiative, a program of tax breaks, grants and loan guarantees that aims to cut companies’ energy bills by about $40 billion a year…

9: Why Americans Don’t Buy Global Warming (Part I of II)

Michael J. Nark, president & CEO of Prenova, identified a few key reasons why so many Americans don’t believe in global warming…

8: Bloom Boxes Make Big AT&T Sale, But Sit 10th in Fuel Cell Rankings

AT&T announced that 11 of its sites in California will install 7.5 MW of Bloom Boxes, in one of the biggest deals ever for the fuel cell maker. But despite being the best-known maker of fuel cells, Bloom Energy was heavily outscored by competitors in a ranking of the manufacturers’ competitiveness…

7: Ray Anderson, Interface Chairman and Sustainability Leader, Dies at 77

Ray Anderson, the founder of Interface, Inc. and a widely recognized leader in sustainable business, died after a long battle with cancer…

6: ‘Largest Sloping Green Roof’ Collapses

A sloping green roof billed as the largest in North America partially collapsed after bad winter weather. No one was injured…

5: IBM, Intel, Pepsi Top Ethics Rankings

The three firms led rankings of companies with the most ethical reputations. The EthicalQuote rankings by Swiss company Covalence scord 581 companies in 18 sectors…

4: Walmart, Nike, Gap Create Apparel Index

Nike, Target, JC Penney and Levi’s were among the nearly 30 manufacturers and retailers that launched the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, along with Version 1.0 of their Apparel Index…

3: Supervalu to Go Zero Waste at 40 Stores; Puma Bag Dissolves in Water

Supervalu Inc. and its Albertsons brand of supermarkets announced that they will move 40 stores to be zero waste by the end February 2012, while Puma debuted its “clever little shopper” bags, which the company says dissolve in water in minutes…

2: United Launching Biofuel Flight Today, with Alaska on Its Heels

United, the world’s largest airline, used algae-based biofuel for a Boeing 737-800 flying from Houston to Chicago, while Alaska Airlines said it would power 75 commercial passenger flights with a 20 percent biofuel blend, made from used cooking oil…

1: Ford, Starbucks Among ‘Most Ethical Companies’

Target, Starbucks, General Mills and Ford all featured in rankings of the most ethical companies in 38 sectors. The 2011 World’s Most Ethical Companies rankings by Ethisphere magazine honors companies deemed to have demonstrated a commitment to ethical business practices…

Other “most read” lists:

Most Read Reporting and Finance Stories of 2011
Most Read Paper and Packaging Stories of 2011
Most Read Energy Management Stories of 2011
Most Read Environmental Management and Sustainable Business Stories of 2010

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