The Best and the Worst of Sustainability and Climate in 2015

Last year was a momentous year for both climate action and environmental destruction. Perhaps most importantly, 2015 will be remembered as the moment in history when the world finally woke up to the threat of climate change.

Here is a review of the ten best and the ten worst sustainability and climate stories of 2015.

Top 10 Global Sustainability Leaders (Report)

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) research firm EIRIS ranked the global leaders in sustainability in their annual ratings.  The report, titled 'On track for Rio+20? How are global companies responding to sustainability?', analyzes the sustainability performance of 50 of the world's largest companies (by market cap). Several very well known consumer brands did not fare well. Some will be surprised to see Japanese automaker Toyota as being one of the worst companies of the 50 rated in the report. Toyota produces greener cars, but there are concerns about its human-rights and supply chain labor standards. Companies like Apple and Google, both received "D" grades. Not surprisingly oil giants ExxonMobil Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Occidental Petroleum, were all given the lowest ranking. Only 2 percent of US companies got an "A". In the UK 20 percent of companies scored an "A" and 12 percent of mainland European companies received an "A". Only 1 percent of Asian ones made the top grade. Here are the world's sustainability leaders as determined by ESG research firm EIRIS: