42 Degrees - Business from a different angle

Corporate ethics have become so important that various bodies have started producing guides to corporate ethical performance – in much the same way that the Consumer Association produces guides to product performance.

Online ethical database Corporatecritic.org has rated every company in the FTSE 100 on its ethical performance. Using five areas of activity (human rights, workers' rights, environment, animal testing and political activity), it starts with a score of 14 and subtracts one point for every area in which there is public criticism of a company's activities.

So, if a company has received criticisms in the animal testing and workers' rights categories, two points will be deducted and its 'ethiscore' will be 12. A 15th point is given for 'company sustainability' – a positive corporate responsibility category – which rewards companies who, for example, only sell organic products.

So let's see which are the top 20 FTSE companies to profit from not maximising profits.

Reproduced with the permission of www.corporatecritic.org – an online corporate ethics rating database based in Manchester UK. www.ethicalconsumer.org