Toyota may have had its challenges rebounding from its recall woes and the disaster in Japan, but consumers still hold the company in high regard. A new survey by Interbrand found that consumers ranked Toyota number one globally in its new report, Best Global Green Brands.
Toyota took top spot ahead of global multinationals 3M and Siemens.
Automotive companies did well in the survey, taking seven of the top 20 spots in the first global report to focus exclusively on green. Volkswagen was ranked at 6, Honda at 7, Hyundai at 11, BMW at 12, Mercedes-Benz at 16 and Ford was twentieth.
Interbrand, a leading brand consultancy, combines public perception of environmental sustainability (“green”) with a demonstration of that performance based on publicly available information and data.
Interbrand says the findings show that the strongest green brands consistently differentiate themselves and engage in green activities that consumers find relevant, as well as implement profitable green practices across their organization, from setting and executing environmental programs to 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 conducted an evaluation of each brand’s consumer perceptions. Consumers in the 10 largest markets: 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.
The rankings developed by Interbrand are based, in part, on quantitative performance scores derived from an analysis of publicly available information. Deloitte was engaged to develop an environmental sustainability performance methodology based on publicly available data as an input to Interbrand’s overall scoring methodology. These performance scores were one of the many factors Interbrand considered when creating the final rankings.
Key findings from the study include:
• Toyota is a leading example of making the environment a core management priority, while also engaging in a meaningful way with audiences around the world.
• The automotive industry and electronics category lead the way not only in their ability to implement sustainable practices across their organization, but also in their ability to communicate their efforts effectively to the public.
For more information, visit: www.interbrand.com
Top Ten Green Brands & Scores
1 Toyota 64.19
2 3M 63.33
3 Siemens 63.08
4 Johnson & Johnson 59.41
5 HP 59.06
6 VW 58.90
7 Honda 58.85
8 Dell 58.81
9 Cisco 57.66
10 Panasonic 57.32
