China's Top 100 Green Companies 2012 Unveiled

WUHAN, China, April 25, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- "China's Top 100 Green Companies", which offers a cross-industry perspective to assess the substantial competitiveness of enterprises, was formally unveiled on 22 April in Wuhan. 100 of China's current "greenest" and most sustainable enterprises are on the list, including Huawei, Lenovo, Sany Group, Baosteel, Haier, the State Grid Corporation of China, GE (China), Procter & Gamble (China) and Volkswagen (China).

This annual selection, initiated by China Entrepreneur Club, is brought forward by the private think tank -- Daonong Centre for Enterprise and the Green Herald Magazine. It has been held for five sessions until now. Every year, it tracks the annual general status of the target candidate enterprises and makes assessments. 20 enterprises from the 2011 China's Top 100 Green Companies were disqualified from the list of this year for "problems due to stepping on red lines", "having failed to control the trend of industrial development", "abandoning business values and faith", "seriously damaging the construction of healthy business ecology, social ecology and environmental ecology".

Among all the causes, the problem of "stepping on red lines" was most severe this year. Many enterprises on the 2011 list were disqualified for problems like environmental pollution, product quality, corruption/bribery, and food security. Another significant cause of the disqualification is that many enterprises had difficulties in controlling the uncertain changes in their industries, including the international economic trend, the industrial structure and the change of policy and system.

"By screening nearly 1000 enterprises and carefully studying over 220 of them, the 2012 China's Top 100 Green Companies assessment project has disclosed that leading enterprises share three distinctive principles. Firstly, they can blend the right values into their business models. Secondly, they stick to business ethics and the bottom line, living in harmony with men, society and nature. Thirdly, they squarely face and solve the painful problems impeding sustainable development of their industries," said Liu Donghua, the founder and Deputy Executive Chairman of China Entrepreneur Club (CEC) and Co-Chairman of the Expert Committee of China's Top 100 Green Companies.

The final list of the 2012 selection was based on the online vote and opinions of the expert appraisal committee. For the first time it carried out the enterprise ranking within the industry and evaluated companies by the cross-industry index and the key index of industry, which respectively accounted for 50%. The cross-industry index consists of five indices: economic index (20%), social index (25%), environmental index (25%), innovational index (20%) and transparency index (10%); while the key index of industry reflects the greatest challenges and opportunities the industry faces in the sustainable development, and indicates coping methods for companies. The two indices focus on the quantitative information, with the supplementation of qualitative information.

"The 2012 China's Top 100 Green Companies takes 'Green' as its standard and evaluates from many aspects the sense of responsibility and capacity for sustainable development that enterprises have exhibited in operation and innovation. Enterprises on the list not only meet the requirement of being 'Green', but also actively pursue sustainable developments in fields of economy, society and innovation, seeking a balance between commercial benefits and society, morality and environment," commented Mike Thompson, member of the Expert Committee of China's Top 100 Green Companies, Professor of Management Practice at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) and Director of the Center for Leadership and Responsibility (ECCLAR).

Along with the list, the "2012 China's Top 100 Green Companies report" was also issued, which has summarized the developing trend of green economy this year, analyzed cases of the top 100 companies on this list and the status of sustainable developments in numerous industries.

The concept of "Green Company" was firstly proposed by the Daonong Centre for Enterprise, which refers to "companies that achieve sustainable competitiveness by creating healthy ecology", and companies that sustainably produce "green profits" on the premise of "causing no damage to environment, people and future".

About China Entrepreneur Club

Established in 2006, China Entrepreneur Club (CEC) is a non-profit organization consisted of a group of the most influential business leaders in China. CEC members are outstanding and highly-regarded Chinese entrepreneurs who have enjoyed commercial success by abiding the laws of market economy. They are leaders of their respective fields who have set examples for green transformation and application of new business models, and they have unique management strategies, sense of judgment and enjoy sharing their success.

CEC member companies are all dynamic and economically powerful, as gross income totaled more than RMB 12trillion in 2011.

CEC strives to build a cross-sector platform to promote communication and exchanges among industrial elites, and to realize the establishment and progress of mainstream Chinese entrepreneurship. It is dedicated to "promote entrepreneurship and sustainable development of the economy and the society," and to cultivate a positive commercial force and pave a green path for business development.