Going green? Apple, eBay find way to bottom of new climate impact scorecard

If you are looking for a little help measuring the Greenness of Corporate America, you should check out a tool announced today that scores big businesses environmental efforts. The Climate Counts Company Scorecard lets users factor a company’s track record on climate change into their purchasing decisions for everything from sneakers to computer equipment.  The nonprofit Climate Counts group for now  tracks 56 major corporations across eight sectors – from apparel to electronics to fast food – on their commitment to reversing climate change. Canon, Nike and Unilever top the 56 companies scored on the inaugural Climate Counts Company Scorecard. At the very bottom – with scores of zero – are Amazon.com, Wendy’s, Burger King, Jones Apparel, CBS and Darden Restaurants (which owns popular restaurants Red Lobster and Olive Garden). Sixteen low-performing companies scored under 10 points, including big names like Apple, eBay.com and Levi Strauss, the group said in a press release.  Apple which ahs been engaged in a fight with Greenpeace over the way it measures corporate environmental impact scored a rather awful 2 on the Climate Counts scale. The site says Apple is a choice to avoid for the climate-conscious consumer. This company is not yet taking meaningful action on climate change. Climate Counts found no public information to indicate that Apple has started to measure the impact it has on global warming (i.e. its greenhouse gas emissions or climate footprint), the Web sit says.  Jobs told Greenpeace representatives recently: “You guys rate people based on what people say their plans are in the distant future, not what they are doing today. I think you put way too much weight on these glorified principles and way too little weight on science and engineering. It would be very helpful if your organization hired a few more engineers and actually entered into dialog with companies to find out what they are really doing and not just listen to all the flowery language when in reality most of them aren’t doing anything. That’s my opinion.” Guess he’ll be visiting the Climate Counts group soon too. IBM which recently announced its Big Green push to help customers  cut their data center energy bills and redesign their data centers to be more environmentally friendly scored a 70 on the scorecard. According to Climate Counts IBM still has work to do, but they’re beginning to hit their stride.  Climate Counts has found that IBM has established clear goals to reduce the company’s energy use, and the company has reduced its impact on global warming (i.e. its greenhouse gas emissions or climate footprint). The company also encourages energy conservation by others. Another tech company, HP scored 59 and the Climate Counts site said  like IBM, HP has work to do – a little more than IBM apparently, but it too is headed the right direction. “Global warming is real. We have 10 years to do something significant about it, and we can,” said Gary Hirshberg, chair of Climate Counts and CEO of organic yogurt maker Stonyfield Farm. “Business must play a significant role in stopping global warming, and we believe the  key to influencing companies lies in the hands of the consumer. With the Scorecard, consumers now have the power to make good climate decisions in their everyday purchases. Climate Counts said it developed the Scorecard with help from business and climate experts and verified data with the companies.  In addition Climate Counts is using Working Assets Wireless, so that users can text the site for company information. Just  text “cc” and then the name of the company you’re wondering about to 30644.