10 green giants

These companies have gone beyond what the law requires to operate in an environmentally responsible way.

Goldman Sachs
Goldman invested $1.5 billion in cellulosic ethanol, wind and solar power.
Goldman Sachs
Location: New York
Year founded: 1869
Revenue: $69.4 Billion
Employees: 24,000
Bold climate-change policy shapes major investments.

When Goldman Sachs announced a groundbreaking environmental policy in 2005, critics said chief executive Hank Paulson was imposing his green ethos. Wrong. The bank has become even more planet-friendly since Paulson left. Why? Because it is doing lots of green business.

Goldman's investment of $1.5 billion in cellulosic ethanol, wind and solar have paid off. Texas Pacific and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts turned to Goldman, which had built bridges to environmental groups, as they prepared a bid for Texas energy company TXU. Research clients are pleased that Goldman's equity analysts in Europe now factor environmental, social and governance issues into their reports. "The world's changing," says one Goldman official. The company is too - some cars that take bankers home are hybrids. --Marc Gunther

Honda

Continental

Suncor

Tesco

Alcan

PG&E

S.C. Johnson

Goldman Sachs

Swiss Re

H-P
Sources: Department of Energy; Eia; Ceres; Aron Cramer; Business for Social Responsibility; Dan Esty; Jonathan Lash, World Resources Institute; Matthew Kiernan, Innovest Strategic Value Advisors; Fred Krupp, Environmental Defense; Joel Makower, Greener World Media; Kld Research; Natural Resources Defense Council; Glen Pricket, Conservation International; Andrew Savitz
The Governator's green agenda When Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor in 2003, the environment was not high on his agenda. Now it is. That matters, because where California goes, the rest of the country just may follow. (more)
And when the icecaps do melt... Global warming = less ice = more water = surf's up! Patagonia's new high-tech wetsuit is just the latest milestone in a long history of eco-friendly innovations. (more)
Blueprint for green business The story of how Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard took his passion for the outdoors and turned it into an amazing business. (more)

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.