Toyota, 3M and Siemens are greenest brands – report

Toyota has been named the greenest brand in the world in a new Interbrand report, which finds that automotive, IT and electronics companies lead the way in implementing environmental practices and communicating these to the public.

The new report, which ranks 3M in second place and Siemens in third, combines public perception of environmental sustainability and a demonstration of green performance.

The Best Global Green Brands study finds that the strongest green brands consistently differentiate themselves and engage in green activities that consumers find relevant, as well as implementing profitable green practices across their organisations, including setting up and running environmental programmes and effectively measuring and reporting their performance to the public.  

“As corporate citizenship increasingly becomes the norm, green initiatives may be among the most visible and easiest to claim and yet, can be the most challenging to deliver performance against,” said Jez Frampton, global chief executive officer at Interbrand.

“We believe the strongest green brands lie at the intersection of performance and perception: their ability to build stronger connections with consumers as a result of actionable and credible environmental practices.” 

In completing the study, Interbrand evaluated consumer perceptions of each brand. Consumers in the 10 largest markets – the US, Japan, China, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Brazil, Spain and India – were asked how green impacts their purchase decisions and their overall understanding and awareness of the brand’s green activities as a whole. 

Toyota was found to be a leading example of making the environment a core management priority, while also engaging in a meaningful way with audiences around the world. Automotive and electronics companies, meanwhile, lead the way in implementing sustainable practices across their organisations and in communicating their efforts effectively to the public. 

According to the report, a number of brands show large gaps between performance and perception. For example, L’Oréal, Nokia, and HSBC all scored significantly higher in performance than perception, suggesting that while they are doing great things internally in terms of environmental sustainability, they are not yet communicating their efforts to consumers as clearly as they could. 

Meanwhile, McDonald’s, GE, and Coca-Cola all scored significantly higher in perception than performance. This suggests that these highly visible brands enjoy the positive impact of being a well-known, powerful brand, with green perception matching general perception overall.

Interbrand produces an annual Best Global Brands report, ranking brands on their financial performance, role and strength.

The top 10 green brands and their scores:

Photo: Toyota Prius with solar roof