Living green means looking at every single part of your life to see how you can do better and reduce your impact on the environment.
One of the easiest ways to do this and send a message when you do is to buy from companies with proven track records of caring about the planet.
Thanks to the internet, it’s never been easier to see which brands give a damn about being eco-friendly, and those who haven’t seemed to catch up.
With our power as consumers, we can send a clear message that we’re done supporting these brands who pollute the earth and contribute to harmful emissions and instead favor those who care.
What are some of the best and worst environmental companies?
Brands known for being green include Ikea, Patagonia, IBM, and Adobe, with the lesser favored brands being Nestle, Amazon, and McDonalds. Each of these brands has a reputation for making an impact on the planet, be it good or bad, and it’s up to us to buy from brands that are committed to reducing their carbon footprint.
As a consumer, knowledge is power, and understanding a bit about what the biggest brands have to offer in terms of eco-friendly and sustainable packaging, practices, and manufacturing is key.
We’ll show you some of the best and worst offenders in environmental companies so you can take a stand with your purchasing and make a real difference.
Contents
The 5 Most Famous Eco-Friendly Companies
If you want to shop for a brand that truly cares, you’ll find your match with these, and a list of companies that are green for more than just appearance’s sake.
Check out some of the most famous eco-friendly companies and what it is they do and have done, that makes the earth so happy.
Patagonia
It’s not every day you see a brand asking people not to buy their products, but that’s exactly what Patagonia’s ad campaign did.
In an effort to promote waste reduction, they reminded people not to buy unnecessarily and have implemented a program that allows you to repair their products rather than get new ones.
Even the products themselves are made with greener materials like natural rubber and recycled plastic, so this is a brand you can feel great shopping with.
IBM
IBM was one of the first tech brands to get on board with green initiatives, and decades before anyone else thought it was cool. In the 1960s, the computer company put a huge emphasis on environmentally friendly practices, and they have long been committed to running as energy-efficient as possible.
The utilize smart buildings, have a detailed water resource management plant, and invest in green tech, making them one of best eco-friendly choices.
Adobe
Adobe has long been known as an environmentally friendly company, and they were even labeled Newsweek’s Greenest IT company in 2014.
Among their accolades are over 70 percent LEED-certified workspaces, goals for a net-zero energy consumption, and a change in plastic packaging to reduce waste.
The company continues to innovate and come up with ways they can reduce their carbon footprint and pass these onto their customers, with all of the pledges they make being filled.
New Belgium Brewing
This unique brewing company based in Colorado is miles ahead of others in terms of their climate change initiatives. The brewery is committed to diverting almost 100 percent of its waste from landfills, as well as making sure the entire process is more energy-efficient.
New Belgium Brewing is an advocate for environmentalism and signals hope that all types of industries and products can make a change for the better.
SEVENTH GENERATION
If you want to shop for a brand that’s gentle to the earth and promotes sustainable practices, Seventh Generation is it. This green brand makes household goods and cleaners, competing with other destructive companies that care little about the planet they’re polluting.
With the success of Seventh Generation, other brands have had to rethink their product lines, and many have created their own green alternatives just to keep up.
5 Companies With Bad Eco Records
These brands are notorious for their poor and unsustainable habits, but they do a good job of covering them up with marketing and public relations.
Read a little more about some of the worst offenders and their regular practices that earn them their bad eco records.
Nestle
If any brand has received a bad reputation in recent times, it has to be Nestle, with people discovering horrifying things about the brand like their use of child labor, price-fixing, and mislabeling products. However, their pollution figures and other unsustainable practices are just as bad.
Nestle is the world’s largest producer of bottled water, contributing to a huge percentage of plastic waste each year and taking fresh water from communities who need it. The brand has been found to breach thousands of pollution limits each year, and continue to do so.
McDonald’s
Aside from the obvious fact that McDonald’s relies on the meat industry to create most of its burgers and food, and this in itself is environmentally damaging, there are other causes for concern.
McDonald’s continues to miss its sustainability targets and makes many pledges that never end up coming to fruition.
Their most recent move has been to try and get rid of their harmful packaging and straws, but this appears to be taking longer than they promised.
McDonald’s is responsible for creating 1.5 million tons of waste each year in the US alone, so they have quite a while to go to reduce this negative impact.
Amazon
Although Amazon makes many pledges to become more environmentally sound, a report by Greenpeace would prove otherwise. When compared to other tech giants like Microsoft and Google, who had a carbon footprint rating of 1.5 million tons, Amazon’s was an astonishing 44 million.
Amazon is known as one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions, and they recently unveiled a plan to reach 100 percent renewable energy by 2030 with net-zero carbon by 2040.
Although admirable to make, some critics have found that there’s no real plan in place to reach this pledge, which further tarnishes their lack of an eco-friendly reputation.
Chevron
The oil and gas companies of the world have a lot to answer for when it comes to the environment, as the biggest contributors to global emissions.
Chevron has been ranked as one of the worst though, with the US corporation being the worst when it comes to investor-owned companies polluting the earth.
A recent study found that this is a common theme, with some of the worst offenders being investor-owned companies that are popular in the mainstream, and usually those who try to appear environmentally responsible.
Therefore, it’s important to do your research when choosing your brands, so you can show them what matters to you.
Coca Cola
Coca Cola has tried in recent years to move away from their bad environment image, but the statistics don’t lie.
A study conducted recently over nine months found that they were the leading brand behind plastic trash that was dumped in countries around the world, signaling a huge change needed.
Coca-Cola has pledged to collect and recycle all of its packagings by the year 2030, but a lot of damage can be done by then. This mass production of unrecycled and non-degradable packaging has had a huge impact on the earth, and the soda company has a lot to answer for.
Related Questions
Being eco-friendly doesn’t just mean committing to greener daily practices, but also changing the way we shop and use certain products.
Choosing brands with a clear commitment to being eco-friendly is one way to do that, but there’s a lot more we can do. Check out these FAQs about how to shop for environmentally conscious that are better for the planet.
Who is Responsible for Climate Change?
Although we can all do our part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at home, the key offenders that make up 70 percent of the world’s emissions can be traced back to just 100 companies.
These fossil fuel products are responsible for the majority of the earth’s emissions and the growing climate change problems facing the world.
What Are the Biggest Pollutants in the World?
Some many practices and products regularly occur in everyday businesses that are considered to be the most toxic pollutants in the world, with a few industries being the main cause.
The list includes industrial wastewater, arsenic found in ground water, lead-acid batteries, coal mining, lead smelting, and mercury and lead pollution caused by mining.
