GLOBAL – Brands from the automotive sector emerged at the top of Interbrand’s Best Global Green Brands report, a ranking of the top 50 brands around the world in terms of sustainability.
Ford took the number one spot, overtaking Toyota, which had been number one for several years since the report started.
“A sustainability leader, and the first new number one brand in our report’s four-year history, Ford embodies everything the business of the future must be: efficient, visionary, flexible, adept at problem-solving, cooperative, and focused on creating shared value,” Interbrand said, citing Ford’s efforts in sustainability, such as its innovative solar-powered vehicle, C-MAX Solar Energi Concept, to its partnership with Heinz to create bio-plastic out of tomato fiber.
Following Ford were Toyota in the second spot, Honda in third, and Nissan in fourth.
Electronics companies also ranked high on the list, with Panasonic, Nokia, and Sony taking the fifth, sixth, and seventh spots respectively.
Meanwhile, sporting goods company Adidas ranked eighth, FMCG brand Danone took the ninth spot, while tech brand Dell rounded out the top 10.
“The common thread that’s running throughout everything these guys are doing is when we talk about CSR and sustainability programs, it’s something that’s becoming DNA in all of these companies,” said Interband Southeast Asia managing director Julian Barrans.
“They recognize that its morally good business to be sustainable. They have programs running through their companies to be sustainable,” he added.
The Best Global Green Brands were taken from Interbrand’s annual Best Global Brands report, which ranks the top the world’s 100 most valuable brands.
This year’s report focused on “the power of participation and collective action,” Interbrand said.
Brands were assessed based on the public’s perception of its environmental efforts, as well as its actual performance of these efforts.
The perception score and the performance score were then measured by Deloitte to come up with a gap score. A positive gap score indicates that a brand is doing more towards sustainability than the public knows about, while a negative gap score indicates that a brand is perceived to be more sustainable than it actually is.
Pointing out that most of the top brands have a positive gap score, Barrans said that this indicates a sincerity in the brands’ sustainability efforts.
“It’s good. The morality behind what these brands are doing are led by a desire to do something that’s greener, not just a desire to be seen as doing something greener,” he said.
Barrans also talked about the importance for brands to share their sustainability efforts, noting that Asian companies in particular display a reluctance in doing so.
“There’s a certain nervousness in most Asian markets about talking about CSR…People do want to know about something that’s been done that’s good,” he said. “Millenials join the companies that are doing good things for people. We like to hear about companies that good things, it makes you feel proud if it’s a brand that you use.
“Being able to find a way to talk about the good things that you do in a positive way, not in a braggy way, is a very important thing for brands to do,” he continued.
He also said that while being sustainable doesn’t heavily impact a brand’s profitability, the changing mindset of consumers drives brands to improve their sustainability platform.
“The thing that has probably changed the most in the last few decades is the attitude about giving,” Barrans said.
“It’s just an interesting change that comes with a changing mindset. So companies all have to start thinking about how sustainable they can be, what they can do to help,” he added.
View the full list of the Best Global Green Brands here.
