Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis earned the two highest scores in the pharmaceutical sector for sustainability reporting, according to a report from the Roberts Environmental Center (REC) at Claremont McKenna College.
The report, Sustainability Reporting of the Worlds Largest Pharmaceutical Companies, compiled Pacific Sustainability Index (PSI) scores that evaluated the environmental and social reporting of the 26 largest pharmaceutical companies worldwide.
Both Bristol-Myers Squibb (U.S.) and Sanofi-Aventis (France) earned A+ rankings. Rounding out the top five leaders are U.S.-based companies Abbott Laboratories (A grade), Johnson & Johnson (A- grade) and Merck (A- grade).
According to the report, Bristol-Myers Squibb offers a comprehensive set of environmental and social data on its 2009 Web pages and has an efficient system in place to deal with stakeholder concerns. The company also puts a lot of effort into addressing problems in the communities where it works.
In March, Bristol Myers-Squibb took top honors for the 2009 Top 100 Best Corporate Citizens list from Corporate Responsibility Officer.
The lowest scoring companies, Forest Laboratories and NBTY, are smaller companies in the sector and are both based in the United States, said REC. Most low scorers largely ignored social issues including access to health care in developing countries, according to the report. Overall, less than 60 percent of companies in the pharmaceutical sector mentioned efforts to increase health care and medicine in low-income areas, said REC.
Another finding shows that both Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer, the two largest corporations in the sector, showed room for improvement.
In addition to the overall ranking, the report also scores companies by environmental intent, environmental reporting, environmental performance, social intent, social reporting, and social performance.
