Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis score high in social responsibility rating

The Roberts Environmental Center (REC) at Claremont McKenna College in the USA has released an analysis of social responsibility reporting for the 26 largest pharmaceutical companies worldwide. The report contains a compilation of Pacific Sustainability Index (PSI) scores evaluating the environmental and social reporting of the companies. Scoring is based on the transparency, intent, and performance for both environmental and social issues.

The research, based entirely on material released on the firms' web sites, found Bristol-Myers Squibb (USA) and Sanofi-Aventis (France) led the sector as the two highest scoring companies. The lowest scoring companies, Forest Laboratories and NBTY, were smaller companies in the sector and are both based in the USA. There was a slight trend between PSI scores and annual revenue; however, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer, the two largest corporations in the sector, both showed room for improvement.

Prior to the report's release, companies were given the opportunity to respond to their scores and provide additional information if available. Often this reveals information not previously captured in the scoring system.

"Biogen Idec scored low in the rankings," said Elgeritte Adidjaja, research fellow at REC, adding: "However, after speaking with a representative responsible for sustainability matters, the company appears to be committed to many environmental programs, but they are not yet ready to make sustainability information public."

To create the report's ranking, REC evaluated each company's web site using the PSI and sector-specific questions. The index uses a systematic questionnaire to analyze the quality of sustainability reporting. The selection of questions was based on the most frequently-mentioned topics in almost 1,800 corporate sustainability documents analyzed from 2002 through 2008 by the REC. The company's grades in this report were assigned on a grading curve, giving an A+ to the highest scoring companies and those with scores near it.

To view the report, visit: http://www.roberts.cmc.edu/PSI/SectorReports.asp.