Which Companies We Can and Cannot Trust: The True Changes Being Made for Climate Change

If you were to put a number on how many companies were contributing to 50% of greenhouse gas emissions since 1988, what would be your immediate guess, given how many companies that actually exist? The true number is 25.

As Greta has been telling us, big sweeping changes must be made or these companies are going to topple any kind of impact you or me are trying to make. But its not just lobbying against these top 25 that is going to make the difference- governments have most of the power there. Its boycotting household names- making real sacrifices- that will make enough of an impact for governments and businesses to think- wow, looks like emitting deathly amounts of carbon into the air really isn't good for the economy.

But who are the villains, and who are the heroes? Sometimes we get bogged down in the murk of sensationalist protesting and polarised politics, but where is the groundwork for beginning to tackle this issue of who to consume from and who not to?

Here then, I break it down, company by company to present what I could to find out about what international companies are really doing to fight climate change, what they’re pretending to do and what they simply don’t even plan to do. So perhaps by boycotting specific companies and consuming from others, we can do more than just shout and wave pitchforks.

The Supposed ‘Best’ of the Worst: Companies No Longer Invited to Next Week’s Barbecue

When I first began writing this, I wanted to write a “Best of the Worst” list which would list companies in industries where it was hard to make a difference but they were at least making some changes. After a lot of disillusioning research, and finding an incredible amount of discordant information, I began to realise the amount of trickery that was out there.

It soon dawned on my conscience that I couldn’t just adopt my usual idealist pursuits and say, “hey have some sympathy for these guys- they’re doing what they can”. The truth was that they were doing about 1% of what they could. There was no such thing really, as a “best of the worst”- because at every turn, even if these companies were doing something, it was never enough.

But the really disenchanting side of all this is the amount of ‘greenwashing’ going on.

Greenwashing is much like money laundering, in the way that it uses well-intentioned initiatives or branding to divert attention away from the truly damaging activity going on behind the scenes. While a company tells you they have made all their plastic recyclable but then emits billions of tonnes of carbon into the air from the manufacturing of that plastic, this would be greenwashing.

Unfortunately, it’s becoming harder and harder to tell which companies are truly well-intentioned. Given the complicated processes and myriad ways in which carbon can be emitted, we need the data and advice of experts, not brand boosting and so-called reports from sponsored articles.

Below are a list that I thought at first were worth supporting but with further research, developed vehement distaste towards my own gullibility.

Starbucks

Starbucks were one of the first to start making changes around the way they farm and sell coffee. In 2015, it donated $30 million to sustainable farming. Their stores’ electricity are run on renewable energy, and they’ve promised to get rid of plastic straws entirely. That’s something, huh?

Not so fast there. Starbucks actually replaced that plastic straw with a thicker plastic lid which is still non-recyclable. Their 2008 targets to increase the use of reusable cups and use more recyclable materials have also never been met.

And regarding the whole $30 million donation, that’s a step in the right direction but the dent is not nearly enough considering coffee’s carbon emissions are the 6th largest of all agricultural products.

All this and their coffee is overpriced anyway, am I right?

H&M

If you want to see a very thorough list on the world’s most sustainable companies worth over $1billion, have a look at Corporate Knights annual ranking. H&M takes the top spot for international fashion and falls in at number 27 overall. I really thought this was a fairly reputable source at first glance.

While there are some good companies on there, this particular source made me feel more cheated than any other. Supporting fast fashion will never be good for the environment. The fast fashion industry, that is, high street brands that churn out masses of clothes, contributes between 5-10% of all carbon emissions. That’s more than flights and shipping combined!

If you look on the H&M website, it will inform you about their wonderful “conscious” line of clothing, and how it is made from 50% recycled materials. What they don’t tell you is that 98% of their emissions come from the manufacturing process, so this barely makes a difference. And don’t get me started on their human rights violations.

JP Morgan Chase

JP Morgan Chase have cut its financing to Arctic oil rigging and funnelled $200 billion dollars into sustainable projects. Now I did really think at first, that is a lot of money, shouldn’t we support that?

Well, yet again, it would appear that JP Morgan Chase is merely feeling the pressure to convince customers that they are doing something, but it’s not nearly enough. JP Morgan Chase has invested $268 billion into coal, oil and gas firms over the last 4 years alone! Year after year, JP Morgan Chase stands out as the world’s worst banker of climate change.

Apple

Apple really is a classic case of missing the forest for the trees. Apple seem to be commended many times over for reaching its target of using 100% renewable energy across all of the company’s operations. The fact is though that a huge majority of manufacturing is outsourced and so they don’t feel the need to include this part in their advertising.

77% of Apple’s carbon emissions come from manufacturing. One of the biggest issues with Apple though has to be their engendering of the ‘upgrade’ culture. Apple reinforces the idea of upgrading to the most up to date version of their new gadgets every year. In 2018, Apple sold an amazing 218 million smartphones. That doesn’t even include their other gadgetry.

While Apple have really made some concerted efforts, if the manufacturing industry isn’t quelled, they’ll be no meeting the Paris Agreement.

Microsoft

A word needs to be said about possibly the best greenwashing policy seen so far. Microsoft says that they are planning to reverse all their carbon emissions ever emitted by 2050. “Wow!”, is what any unassuming customer looking to do their bit for the environment would say. However, the plan is latched onto the dependence of Carbon Capture becoming a reality, which is a technology yet to be mastered. While the investment in this technology is a great thing and could be the answer we are looking for, its sending out entirely the wrong message.

If the world is at risk of losing 60% of worldwide species by 2050, if we don’t buck up our ideas, gambles made on hypothetically effective strategies is not the way to go. Microsoft’s pursuit of this and neglect to pursue campaigns advocating lifestyle change is just going to fuel the problem, as we continue to consume more and more.

Ford Motor Company

In 2019, Ford received an A rating from the CDP, a global environmental disclosure system, for its water security and climate change efforts. Notably, in 2017, it reduced its CO2 emissions from manufacturing operations by 30 percent and it has a global portfolio of 40 electrified cars.

In Ford’s case, they have made notable efforts. Let’s take a moment to be thankful for that. But moving swiftly in another direction, there’s a sense of contradiction in its quest to be green and satisfy the desires of its consumers. Specifically, the issues lie in its production of SUV vehicles. After power, SUVs were the second largest contributor to the emissions rise from 2010 to 2018. There is simply no room for SUVs in a world that meets the Paris Agreement.

Perhaps Ford Motor Company really is one of the best of the worst though, given the amount of effort its putting in, also making a lot of electrified cars. I just keep thinking that ‘the best of the worst’ will never be good enough.

The Worst of the Worst: Companies That Have Their Cake and Steal it Too

And you thought it couldn’t get any worse, but my idealist tendencies are getting more eroded the more I research. There are the companies that greenwash and then there are the companies that have so much power, greenwashing doesn’t even enter the equation. These are largely the power and fuel companies. Their technique is to monopolise economies and make sure people depend on their services.

Hold on a second though, you may be saying. Let’s try to understand where these companies are coming from. I can understand that when a whole country relies on a certain resource to keep their economy afloat, things do become a bit more complex. In some countries, citizens don’t have the luxury of choosing an energy provider or being informed about climate change. Hate and divisiveness is not the answer here. Information and activism is. Information about how countries can transition to renewable energy. And activism for getting people in positions of power to make the transitions.

One way to affect these powerful people is to educate the world on which companies to boycott and the sort of lifestyles they support. With the support of government policy, changes can be made.

So here are the world’s worst 20 companies that emit the most carbon. Do everything in your power to avoid products that come from these fuel sources (which of course will be difficult) and lobby for transitioning to a world without them:

1. Saudi Aramco

2. Chevron

3. Gazprom

4. ExxonMobil

5. National Iranian Oil Co

6. BP

7. Royal Dutch Shell

8. Coal India

9. Pemex

10. Petróleos de Venezuela

11. PetroChina

12. Peabody Energy

13. ConocoPhillips

14. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co

15. Kuwait Petroleum Corp

16. Iraq National Oil Co

17. Total SA

18. Sonatrach

19. BHP Billiton

20. Petrobras

The Best of the Best: Companies We Are Ready to Take the Plunge and Move in With

Onto the brighter and better side- the truly ‘conscious’ world of business (see how terribly vague sounding this copyright of H&M’s branding is). Despite the overwhelming amount of carbon we are still emitting, there is a movement emerging from the undergrowth which is dedicated to reducing this.

Because as I've realised, its no good to say, yea but this report says that Apple are the most sustainable tech company- so its fine for me to consume from them. Remember, 'the best of the worst' don't exist. Its the industry itself we need to stop or at least cut down our consumption from.

Doing anything below all we can won't cut it- there's not a spectrum of success here- either we save our biosphere, or we don't. Net zero emissions is no easy feat, and meeting the Paris agreement’s goal of staying below a 2 degree temperature rise is going to take all we’ve got. We’re all in this together (kum ba yah!).

So here are the guys that really shine bright in terms of their smart thinking and dedication to not just greenwash their reputations but sell sustainable lifestyle changes. Please, please consume from these guys!

Triodos Bank

This bank’s extraordinarily selfless unique selling position is that it only lends to places that are socially and environmentally conscious. You can even see on their website exactly who they lend to.

The whole reason companies do bad things to the environment, is often for money. So if, as individuals, we can have an impact on the flow of money, perhaps this is how we stop some of the companies doing all they can to just make profits. With 50,000 customers now in the UK, sustainable banking could be the new trend we’ve all been looking for.

Bulb

Bulb was named the UK’s fastest growing private company in 2019 with now 1.6 million customers. Well done humanity! Its purpose; to provide homes with 100% renewable electricity and 10% renewable gas. To offset the remaining 90% gas, the company invests in carbon reduction projects. Energy companies really are the ones that are going to knock the dominoes in the right direction. Because if they succeed, that means reducing the biggest villians of climate change; fossil fuels.

Bulb says that each customer that chooses them saves an average of 1.3 tonnes of CO2 per year, this is the equivalent of planting 655 trees!

Beyond Meat

When people think about climate change, their first association is fossil fuels. However, reports are showing that the agriculture industry comes in at a very, very close second in terms of how much carbon is emitted.

This is perhaps a lifestyle change that many people refuse to accept; giving up meat. Admittedly, meat is in many ways embedded into cultures, economies and diets. That’s why Beyond Meat has realised that to combat the effect of such a huge demand, innovative technologies and solutions are paramount. So they made delicious plant-based meats, with the same texture and taste- they even sizzle like real meat. Much more importantly, a Beyond Burger generates 90% less carbon emissions than a quarter pound of beef!

(Other plant-based meat companies include Impossible Burger, Quorn and Gardein.)

AMAM packaging

There are two sides to the evil coin of plastic packaging: number one, they need lots of oil to produce it and number two, it is causing irreversible damage to aquatic systems. It is said that if we continue consuming plastic as much as we are now, by 2050, the mass of plastic in oceans will outweigh that of the fish that live there.

A Japanese design company, AMAM, has found a way to make packaging that is sustainable and won’t harm the oceans; agar. Agar is a gelatinous material that naturally occurs in oceans in red marine algae. By melting the material down and moulding it in to packaging, designers were able to find a packaging material that can readily absorb and retain water so when disposed of, it will not harm the oceans. Could this be the future of packaging?

Ecovative: Here’s another option by the way for products with alternative packaging- this time, they’re using mushrooms!

OLIO

A company riding the waves of the sea change towards less food waste, OLIO is a food sharing app we all should download now. For years, food waste remained on the fringes of political agendas but now with 19 million tonnes of CO2 being emitted per year in the UK from food waste, and malnutrition increasing, governments are starting to pay attention.

Only 2% of waste comes from supermarkets, while 71% of waste comes from homes. OLIO realised that jumping on the new 'there's an app for that too' bandwagon could be a great way to stop us consuming more food than we need. OLIO is now the biggest food-sharing app, but unfortunately they need more users. As without enough users, there won’t be food nearby for everyone. So please sign up, help the community and save the planet at the same time!

Now its your Turn

While I maybe couldn't guard you against all the bad companies in this article alone, at least by seeing this, you can take that little extra bit of time out of your day to do some research on the products you do consume.

Corporations are not always the enemy, nor is a planet with finite resources. We are all interconnected by the energy we consume, waste and recycle, so let’s give certain companies a helping hand and let them know we don’t need their goods any more.

One thing is for sure, if you search “most environmentally-friendly companies” on google, don’t just trust the first few articles you find.