The charity published the results of its Environmental Index 2005, which invited more than 700 member companies to report on their environmental performance and concerns.
According to the index, companies are cleaning up their act, with improvements made in many areas. The top environmental priority for business was acting on preparing for the impact of water shortages, which have the potential to cripple many areas of industry.
Climate change also proved to be a key driver for business action, with over 70% of companies setting targets to reduce their carbon impacts.
Only half of the participating companies released details of their progress against their climate-change targets to the public, however, suggesting companies might not be achieving self-imposed goals and have more to do on improving transparency.
This charity’s index has now been running for ten years and several industrial giants have claimed it has helped them focus their CSR strategies over the past decade.
While the inclusion of a tobacco giant and airport-management company in the top slots might raise a few eyebrows, the index compares companies with their peers to gauge how they are performing within their sector.