Hess Named 'Cleanest Capitalist'

TORONTO, Ont. -- Hess Corp. was ranked No. 1 among all Standard & Poor's 500 companies in "Clean Capitalism."

The inaugural rankings were released by Corporate Knights, based here, which is an independent media, research and financial products company.

Hess was given top billing based upon 11 transparent quantitative indicators including carbon productivity, ratio of highest executive to average employee pay and percent of taxes paid in cash.

New York City-based Hess earned the No.1 ranking and a 68 percent score due to its top quartile performance in energy productivity ($592 million in revenue generated per unit of energy used), water productivity ($3,315 in revenue generated per unit of water consumed) and percent of tax owed at statutory rates paid out in cash (100 percent), according to Corporate Knights.

The research firm also lauded Hess for best-in-class disclosure practices. "[T]he company disclosed data on 10 of the 11 key performance indicators used in the Corporate Knights model," Corporate Knights said.

The company added the Clean Capitalism ranking is not meant to measure a company's full impact on society. Instead, it sets "some objective and transparent ground rules on which to measure and recognize progress."

"Our theory of change is that if you can objectively score companies on meaningful criteria and those scores can be used to influence market forces, it will be possible to divert capital away from inefficient, irresponsible firms and toward more resource-productive and responsible ones," said Toby Heaps, CEO of Corporate Knights.

Four other companies with convenience store connections also took top 20 spots on the list. All are suppliers to the industry. Procter & Gamble Co. ranked No. 2, General Mills Inc. grabbed the No. 12 spot, Altria Group Inc. came in at No. 14 and Reynolds American Inc. earned the No. 17 slot.