Brand consultancy Interbrand has produced its third annual list of Best Global Green Brands and Toyota tops it again, chiefly it seems because of the success of the Prius hybrid (2.9m world sales, 1.2m in the US).
These computations are based on a ‘gap score,’ which is a mystery to me, but there you go.
The top ten (in order) are: Toyota, Ford, Honda (are cars so green?), Panasonic, Nissan, Johnson & Johnson. VW, Danone (top food brand) and Dell. Nestle, which seems to do well in most of these quasi-ethical surveys strangely, is at 14 with Coke at 19, L’Oreal at 20 (what about testing on animals? Doesn’t that count?) and oil and gas major Shell at 40.
Allianz and Axa lead the financial sector at 43 and 44 while McDonal’d’s is right down at 47. The full 50 are here.
It seems clear (as far as it ever is in these surveys) that Prius has been a big PR success for Toyota and that the car sector in general has succeeded in persuading whoever it it’s persuaded that it’s doing its bit for the environment – which it was largely responsible for mucking up in the first place.
Danone scores highly again as it did in a recent, similar-ish survey from Havas, and Nestle is obviously doing something right too.
Of Unilever, which makes much of its commitment to sustainability, there is no sign (unless I’ve missed it, which I do now and again) and P&G is absent too. It’s also worth pointing out that there must be scores of smaller brands that people regard as much greener than this lot.
Anyway, those sustainability wallahs populating the upper regions of Unilever can expect a kicking.
