A Problem with Methodology

A recent report in Corporate Knights Magazine ranking the 'most-sustainable' corporations listed numerous oil sands companies amongst the top 100 finishers. If this strikes you as somewhat bizarre or even absurd, it's because it is: The method used by CKM doesn't compare companies along by the net level of pollution or degradation. Rather, they use what's called an 'intensity-based' comparison - an analysis of how much profit is being generated per unit of pollution. As this report in the Vancouver Sun notes: "[The study author] acknowledged the methodology used can result in big polluters appearing sustainable if they make a lot of money in proportion to their impact." Because of the problems with the study's methodology, a company like Suncor can end up ranked as the 48th 'most sustainable' corporation in the world, when in fact its damaging of the watershed and emissions of carbon dioxide are so severe that it "would be bottom-quartile for the sector.”