A new ranking of major food and beverage companies by their corporate social responsibility is published today, with Unilever, Nestle and Danone occupying the top three spots. The Tomorrow’s Value Rating was launched by consultancy Two Tomorrows in September 2009, and investigates the activities of the top ten companies in a given sector by the corporate responsibility activities reported in company materials, including annual reports, websites, and regulatory filings. It scored the food and beverage top ten as follows: Unilever 64%; Nestlé 59%; Danone 58%; PepsiCo 51%; Coca Cola 49%;
AB-InBev 46%; Kraft 46%; Heineken 39%; Tyson 28%; Kirin Holdings 23%. Alex Nichols, senior consultant at Two Tomorrows, told Food Navigator.com that the rating is «a lens to look at the future». It characterises and synthesises the contribution the sector is making, and gives insight into the key issues and strategies for tackling them. It is also a way for the consultancy to contribute to the debate, whilst bringing attention to the expertise of its team in advising firms on ways they can improve their practices and reporting. The summary report, available today on the Tomorrow’s Value Rating website , does not list all the criteria but more details of the findings will be made available to the individual companies if requested. Unilever came out top as it was seen to have shown leadership through the initiatives it has co-founded, like the Marine Stewardship Council and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. It was also an early supporter of fair trade, an earlier adopter of nutritional labelling on products, and improved on important variables like carbon emissions and water usage over recent years. At Unilever, responsibility is based on stakeholder feedback, governed by senior leaders at the company.
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