ESG News Review 26 October – 1 November 2013
Five banks were the most criticized companies last week, generating an important volume of news: Barclays, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, and Royal Bank of Scotland. These banks are under investigation of U.S., European and Swiss antitrust authorities for possible manipulation of foreign exchange trading. They were also named in a lawsuit filed by mortgage giant Fannie Mae for allegedly manipulating the London interbank offered rate (Libor).
On the positive side, Ford was among the most praised companies last week for showcasing how it using big data and analysis to increase fuel economy and reduce vehicle emissions. Another car maker, Toyota, announced 24 projects that will receive grants under its Environmental Activities Grant Program. Marriott International said that it is expanding its partnership with the Akilah Institute for Women in Kigali, Rwanda. Groupe Eurotunnel won First Prize in the category for “Best CSR Policy for a Major Group” at the “Nuit de l’Entreprise Solidaire et Responsable” in France. SAP announced the scaling of its Social Sabbatical program, where “high-potential” employees volunteer their skills to support social entrepreneurs or non-profit organizations in Brazil, India, South Africa and China.
The most praised companies last week were: Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp., Marriott International Inc., Groupe Eurotunnel SA, SAP AG.
And the most criticized were: Barclays plc, UBS AG, Deutsche Bank AG, Citigroup Inc., Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc.
The tag cloud below shows words found in news about these companies.
Words found in news about most praised and most criticized companies last week
This weekly review has been produced using the EthicalQuote reputation index run by Covalence, which tracks 2800 companies worldwide. It gives a summary of positive and negative news published last week about Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), ethics and sustainability.
The EthicalQuote reputation index integrates thousands of news pieces gathered online and classified according to 50 ESG criteria inspired by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and to their positive or negative sentiment.
The next heatmap represents the sentiment calculated for each of the 50 criteria last week. The 50 criteria are embedded into 7 dimensions, following the structure of the GRI. The color indicates the ratio of positive news / total news.
Ratio of positive news / total news for 50 criteria last week 0 % 
100 %
The map below represents countries where action described in the news takes place, the color reflecting the ratio of positive news / total news for each active country using last week’s data.
Ratio of positive news / total news 0 % 100 %
In terms of volume of information USA, UK, Japan, Switzerland, Spain, France, South Africa, and Australia.
Last week statistics
| Positives | 414 | Companies | 245 | Countries | 61 |
| Negatives | 733 | Mostly praised | 120 | Sources | 232 |
| Total | 1147 | Mostly criticized | 116 | ||
| Positives / Total | 36% |
These figures show the activity in Covalence EthicalQuote database during the week of 26 October – 1 November 2013.
Historical statistics
 |
||
| Positives | 345125 | |
| Negatives | 200063 | |
| Total | 545188 | |
| Sources | 36224 | |
| Start | 01.01.2002 | |
| End | 1.11.2013 | |
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