MunichRe, IBM Top Green Company Rankings

The longstanding efforts of Munich Re to study and plan for the effects of climate change are earning the reinsurer plaudits as it grabbed the top spot in Newsweek’s Green Rankings.

Compiled with environmental research providers Trucost and Sustainalytics, the rankings list the top 500 green firms in the United States, along with a separate global 500. The survey ranked the firms by compiling a score based on three components: environmental impact, environmental management and environmental disclosure.

Munich Re scored well across all three metrics for a composite score of 83.6 percent. The company founded its Geo Risks Research Department in 1974 and more recently launched the Munich Climate Insurance Initiative to help adapt insurance to fit the impacts of climate change. Operationally, the company achieved carbon neutrality in its Munich headquarters in 2009, and targets 2012 to be carbon-neutral throughout its worldwide reinsurance group operations. When announcing plans for a 2.5-megawatt solar power system at its Plainsboro, N.J. facility, Tony Kuczinski, president and CEO of Munich Reinsurance America, noted that the success of the company’s core business is “inextricably linked to environmental protection, so a sustainable approach is an indispensable component of our business strategy."

Close behind with a composite score of 82.5 percent, was IBM. Like Munich Re, Big Blue’s environmental push dates back decades as it formalized its corporate environmental policy—designed to make IBM an environmental leader in all its business activities—in 1971.

As for the U.S. insurance industry, The Hartford, Allstate, ACE, Travelers, AFLAC, Unum Group and Metlife all cracked the top 100.