The system, which also rated Polish mining company KGHM in last place, claims for the first time to rank Europe’s 300 biggest companies according to their greenhouse gas emissions.

Environmental Investment Organisation (EIO), a UK based independent non-profit research body, has today (April 26) complied the ET Europe 300 Carbon Ranking.

The results highlight the best and the worst of the continent’s top businesses, focusing not just on emissions but also on levels of disclosure and verification.

Nationally the ranking find Spain and Italy the best for emissions reporting transparency with Switzerland and France lowest.

First place Aviva in the ranking went to followed closely by Dutch firm Aegon, which offers Life Insurance, Pensions and Asset Management services, with respective carbon Intensities of 0.85 and 1.35 (tCO2e/$M turnover).

The top three non-financial companies are Switzerland’s leading Telecoms provider Swisscom, followed by Nokia (11th, 5.61) and BSkyB (13th, 6.69).

EIO operational director, Sam Gill said: “Despite most companies producing corporate social responsibility reports there remains a remarkable lack of transparency and clarity in greenhouse gas emissions reporting.”

An early success story for the ranking is mining company Randgold Resources, which previously came last in the ET UK 100 Carbon Ranking, for failing to disclose their emissions in either their sustainability or annual reports.

Randgold has now begun reporting publicly, for the first time, in its most recent report, which sees them move off the bottom spot in the updated UK 100, which has been re-released with more up to date information to coincide with the launch of the Europe 300.

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Luke Walsh

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