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NEWS RELEASE
SB20: World's Top Sustainable
Stocks
20 Companies Changing the World (for the
Better!)
New York, July 17, 2008 - SustainableBusiness.com
today announced its
2008 Sustainable Business 20 (SB20) List: The World's Top
Sustainable Stocks.
The SB20 list, in its seventh year, consists of 20 public
companies that are leading the way to a sustainable society.
The list is presented in the Progressive
Investor newsletter,
published by SustainableBusiness.com, which tracks and analyzes
sustainable stocks.
To choose the 20 companies, SustainableBusiness.com works
with a group of judges, who are among the most respected social/green
stock analysts in the world.
"Our goal is to create a list that showcases public
companies that, over the past year, have made substantial
progress in either greening their internal operations or growing
a business based on an important green technology," says
Rona Fried, Ph.D., SustainableBusiness.com CEO and Editor
of Progressive Investor.
What differentiates the SB20 List from the many others?
You'll find small companies as well as the usual large ones
- and from most regions of the world, not just the USA. The
selections are made from the deep knowledge and experience
of our judges, not numerical formulas.
Read the selection criteria and background on the SB Judges.
SB20 Company Highlights:
Green Building
Even in the toughest construction market we've seen in a long time, green building companies are holding their own. Apogee (APOG) is a leading manufacturer of efficient glass, which coats some of the highest profile green buildings, such as the Bank of America tower currently under construction in New York City.
Accsys Technology is a small company based in England that's developed a unique technology - it gives softwood trees the durability and quality of hardwoods. If we could use softwoods to make windows, doors and furniture it would greatly relieve the stress on the world's primary forests.
Interface is finally benefiting from its steep climb up "Mount Sustainability" - its innovations in carpet tiles are bearing fruit. The first quarter of 2008 was its best ever.
Renewable Energy
Over a third of the companies on this year's list produce
clean energy: in solar, wind and geothermal.
First Solar continues to dominate in thin film solar,
producing the highest efficiency, lowest cost modules in the
industry by far - no small feat.
Solar Millennium, based in Germany, is building the world's largest solar thermal plants - the first solar utility.
India-based Suzlon graces our list because
of its rapid ascent in the wind industry - it rose to a 10.5%
market share in 2007.
England-based Climate Exchange Plc is our first company from a brand new industry - Carbon Markets.
Corporate Pioneers
About half the SB20 List are "Corporate Pioneers" - companies with conventional products and services that are greening their product lines.
Over the past year, Google has become as
admired in sustainability circles as for its endless innovation
in the Search Engine business. Google's extensive server farms
operate at an unheard of 90% efficiency, which they're working
to extend throughout the industry; they're also investing
hundreds of millions of dollars in clean energy technologies.
IBM is greening its own and customers' data centers, which can be 100 times as energy intensive as the average office building. They're designing technologies to cut energy use by half by 2010, while increasing computer capacity by a factor of 10.
Meanwhile, TNT is setting the trend for its industry - the postal and express mail company, which is based in the Netherlands and competes with FedEx and UPS, has committed to becoming the first zero emissions transportation company.
Natura Cosmeticos is doing the same in the personal care industry - it completely banned animal testing in products or suppliers' ingredients.
And Chipotle Mexican Grill is proving that
fast food can be healthy and come completely from humane,
organic farms. Its 730 restaurants now serve 100% free range
pork and chicken.
**Learn more by reading
Snapshots of all the SB20 Companies.
The 2008 SB20 List
| Company Name | Ticker | Sector | Country |
| Accsys Technologies Plc | AXS.L; ACSYF.PK | Green Building | England |
| Apogee Enterprises, Inc. | Nasdaq: APOG | Green Building | USA |
| Asahi Pretec | 5855.T; AHPKF.PK | Recycling | Japan
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| Canadian Hydro Developers, Inc. | KHD.TO | Wind/Small Hydro | Canada
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| Chipotle Mexican Grill | NYSE: CMG | Corporate Pioneer | USA
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| Climate Exchange plc | CLE.L; CXCHF.PK | Emissions Reduction | England
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| First Solar | Nasdaq: FSLR | Thin-Film Solar | USA
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| Google, Inc. | Nasdaq: GOOG | Corporate Pioneer | USA
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| Hewlett-Packard Co | . NYSE:HPQ | Corporate Pioneer | USA
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| IBM | NYSE:IBM | Corporate Pioneer | USA
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| Interface | Nasdaq: IFSIA | Corporate Pioneer | USA
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| Lindsay Corporation | NYSE: LNN | Water | USA
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| Natura Cosmeticos SA | NATU3.SA | Corporate Pioneer | Brazil
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| Ormat Technologies | NYSE: ORA | Geothermal Energy | USA
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| Philips Electronics | NYSE: PHG | Corporate Pioneer | Netherlands
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| Solar Millennium AG | S2M.DE | Solar Thermal | Germany
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| Staples, Inc. | Nasdaq:SPLS | Corporate Pioneer | USA
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| Suzlon Energy Ltd. | SUZL.BO | Wind Energy | India
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| TNT N.V. | TNT.AS; TNTTY.OB | Corporate Pioneer | Netherlands
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| WaterFurnace | Renewable Energy | WFI.TO Geothermal Heat Pumps | USA
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Read the selection criteria and background on the SB Judges.
**Learn more by reading
Snapshots of all the SB20 Companies.
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About Progressive Investor
Progressive Investor, is a monthly online newsletter that guides investors and analysts toward green investments. It covers all green business sectors including renewable energy, green building and healthy lifestyle.
About SustainableBusiness.com
SustainableBusiness.com,
online for 12 years, provides global news and networking services
to help green businesses grow: Daily Sustainable Business
and Green Investor news, Green Dream Jobs, Business Connections
and Progressive Investor.
Contact:
Rona Fried, Editor, Progressive Investor
President, SustainableBusiness.com
631-423-3277
rona@sustainablebusiness.com
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