Indian Tech Companies Embarrass United States in Green Ranking

Question: What do Infosys, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services have in common? Answer: Their skills in and commitment to implementing green technologies put U.S. companies to shame.

I was absolutely blown away when I read Newsweek’s Green Rankings of Global Companies for 2012, which was released on Monday, and which ranks the environmental footprints, management and reporting practices of the world’s 500 largest publicly traded companies. A favorite pastime of a lot of people who read this blog is to mindlessly bash the technology prowess of Indian companies, so they probably won’t be too tickled to find that while India had three companies in the Top 20 List, The United States had only one: IBM, which came in at No. 4. IBM was topped by Wipro, which holds the No. 2 spot. Tata and Infosys, meanwhile, came in at No. 11 and No. 19, respectively. Here’s the full Top 20 list:

1. Santander Brasil (Brazil)
2. Wipro (India)
3. Bradesco (Brazil)
4. IBM (United States)
5. National Australia Bank (Australia)
6. BT Group (U.K.)
7. Munich Re (Germany)
8. SAP (Germany)
9. KPN (Netherlands)
10. Marks & Spencer Group (U.K.)
11. Tata Consultancy Services (India)
12. Generali Group (Italy/Financials)
13. Bell Canada Enterprises (Canada)
14. Nokia (Finland/Technology)
15. Telefonica (Spain)
16. Santander (Spain)
17. Fujitsu (Japan)
18. NKSJ Holdings (Japan)
19. Infosys (India)
20. Telefonica Brasil (Brazil)

That the United States had only one company in the Top 20, while India and Brazil each had three, is outrageous, given that there’s virtually nothing any company can do that’s more essential than protecting the environment. The Newsweek ranking serves as a valuable reminder that all countries can learn from each other, and that we in this country would be very well advised to emulate companies in India and elsewhere that have done a much better job of setting the right priorities with respect to the environment.