CNBC Business | The Top 100 Low Carbon Pioneers

The Top 100 Low Carbon Pioneers

The business of climate change

1
Iberdrola
Bilbao, Spain
Public
Utility
Ignacio GalÃ¡n, CEO

Iberdrola is that rare creature: a progressive utility company, with a total of 7,342MW of renewable energy in place in 2007 and another 41,266MW in the pipeline ' mostly windpower. Market capitalisation jumped from '€12bn in 2001 to '€55bn in 2007, putting it in fourth place worldwide. The company's century old roots as a hydropower producer naturally drew it towards green energy, embraced after a 2001 strategic review. In 2007, it took the big step of buying Scottish Power, a company also very active in renewables, and has just acquired US utility Energy East. Iberdrola is also a pioneer in Mexico and Brazil respectively, and plans hydro projects in Brazil.

Iberdrola's 12,200 MW of gas production is based on combined cycled technology and is much cleaner than conventional thermoelectric plants. Nearly half (47%) of the group's power production today is free of CO2 emissions, rising to 72% in Spain.

The company recently ratified its commitment to renewables and will invest '€24bn over three years, half on renewables. Iberdrola apparently shows that progressive policies ' it is a declared 'environmentalist' corporation ' can thicken the bottom line. It scored record profits of '€1.6m in the first nine months of last year, up 30.5% year-on-year. It also predicts that synergies from recent acquisitions will allow operating costs to grow more slowly than gross margins between now and 2010.

2
Wal-Mart
Bentonville, Arkansas
Public
Retail
H Lee Scott, CEO

The world's largest public corporation by revenue would rank 20th in the world if it was a national economy, with revenues in 2007 exceeding '€235bn. On that basis alone CEO Lee Scott's decision to green the company in October 2005 is of enormous significance despite Wal-Mart's chequered employee relations history and controversial impact on communities. Scott has invested '€340m in truck fleet fuel efficiency and aims to reduce greenhouse emissions by 20% over seven years. Longer term it wants to be fuelled 100% by renewables and produce zero waste. The mere fact that it has stated its green intentions has undermined the excuse of other corporations that environmental gains erode profits. Scott believes the opposite.

The company designed two new experimental stores in McKinney, Texas and Aurora, Colorado featuring wind turbines, photovoltaic solar panels, biofuel-capable boilers and water-cooled refrigerators. It is already the world's largest seller of organic milk. 'Save Money, Live Better' is Walmart's hokey, consumerist version of 'Do Well by doing Good', and already the question is whether the capitalist behemoth can deliver the goods. But it is unquestionably a pioneer and we wonder if big box retailers like Tesco would have gone green with the same vigour without Wal-Mart's lead. The biggest impact of the broader retail revolution is still in its infancy ' greening a global supply chain.

3
Terry Hill
London, UK
Private
Engineering
Nille Juul Sorensen , CEO

Terry Hill's name is found behind some of the world's most eco-friendly places, such as China's Dongtan eco-city, London's Thames Gateway redevelopment scheme, Treasure Island, an ecoeffi cient urban brownfield housing development near San Francisco, and other innovative structures like the new low-carbon Torre Bicentenario in Mexico City and the Oresund bridge linking Denmark and Sweden. The company prides itself on a multi-disciplinary, holistic approach that goes beyond construction, engineering or architecture, aided by striking employee involvement. Turnover rose 10.3% in 2006 to '€712m with profits up to '€52m.

4
Alcoa
Pittsburgh, US
Public
Metals
Alain Belda, CEO

Despite running one of the biggest aluminium production operations in the world '€” it employs 116,000 workers in 44 countries '€” Alcoa is working hard to combat climate change. A founding member of the US Climate Action Partnership, the company has a 2020 Strategic Framework for Sustainability in place, which includes specific emissions targets, and has also committed to cutting all its major emissions over the next decade by as much as 60% for sulphur dioxide, 30% for NOX, 50% for VOC and 80% for mercury. In Australia, Alcoa is partnering with other companies to sequester carbon dioxide in bauxite.

5
3M
Minnesota, US
Public
Manufacturing
George Buckley, CEO

3M is one of the world's biggest public companies, with global sales in 2006 of '€15.37bn. The Minnesotabased group makes everything from Scotch tape to 3D digital dentistry technology, water filtration products to Post-It notes. The company, which has had an energy efficiency programme since 1973, aims to cut its emissions by 50% from 1990 levels by the end of this year. Its Pollution Prevention Pays (3P) programme, in place since 1975, has saved it more than '€650m, 3M estimates. 3M is also working on providing products that help the environment, from CFCfree asthma inhalers to ecofriendly cleaning products.

6
Suzlon Energy
India
Public
Energy
Andre Horbach CEO

The roll-out of wind power is being held up by shortages of crucial components such as gearboxes, but this is not bothering Suzlon, the Indian company that is now the world's fifth-biggest wind turbine supplier following its '€1.2bn bid for Germany's REpower Systems. The deal gives the company founded by chairman Tulsi Tanti, now one of India's richest men, access to European markets and to capacity and R&D capabilities in offshore wind. It follows last year's purchase of gearbox maker Hansen Transmission and coincides with a move to make components for other groups and triple capacity by 2009.

7
Man Group
London, UK
Public
Financial
Peter Clarke, CEO

Ranked ninth in last year's list, Man Group went an even darker shade of green this year, becoming carbon neutral on April 8. The outstanding example of this company is its thoroughness. The world's largest hedge fund provider has greened its supply chain, subsidised the carbon reductions of its workforce within an educational programme, and prodded other corporations into action with its own awards event. It has offsetted its own emissions with Gold Standard programmes in India and Mozambique. Key people are former chief executive Stanley Fink and head of corporate responsibility Rob Challis.

8
Siemens
Munich, Germany
Public
Electronics
Peter Loescher, CEO

Siemens's contribution to emissions cuts is gigantic, building the world's largest gas turbine for combined cycle gas plants ' improving efficiency by 60% ' and supplying 6,300 wind turbines globally. Its wind power business grew by 50% in 2006-07 and it is devoting '€2bn of its annual R&D budget to environmental technologies while aiming to improve its own energy efficiency by 20% between 2006 and 2011. For the '€87bn turnover company, climate change is a big business opportunity. Loescher has not made any major strategic changes since taking up his new post last year - it takes a long time to redirect a supertanker.

9
BSkyB
London, UK
Public
Media
Jeremy Darroch, CEO

BSkyB's adoption of a 'carbon neutral' policy in 2006 brought the issue to the attention of millions of households and confirmed James Murdoch as the lowcarbon media pioneer of note. He still is, but will now apply his vision at News Corp's European and Asian businesses, remaining non-exec chairman at BSkyB. The '€6.7bn revenue company offsets unavoidable emissions and plans to cut the rest by 10% by 2010 compared to 2003. All sites are powered by renewable electricity. It has also developed an electronics recycling scheme and plans an energy-efficient, naturally ventilated television studio data centre.