Bell named Canada’s greenest company by Newsweek

The Newsweek Green Rankings, which were established in 2009 to assess the environmental performance of the largest publicly traded companies in North America and around the world, have ranked Bell as Canada’s greenest company, and the 13th overall. BCE (TSX:BCE) has been making news recently for its thorny and contentious response to the CRTC’s decision to deny its proposed takeover of Astral Media, but today a little good news for its subsidiary, Bell Canada.

The Newsweek Green Rankings, which were established in 2009 to assess the environmental performance of the largest publicly traded companies in North America and around the world, have ranked Bell as Canada’s greenest company, and the 13th overall.

“Bell is delighted to receive this recognition for the hard work of our entire team in safeguarding the environment while we deliver Canada’s best communications services,” said David Wells, Bell’s Executive Vice President of Corporate Services. “Consumers have made clear that the environment means a lot to them, and we’re proud that Bell’s extensive environmental commitment ranks us with the greenest companies in the world.”

Bell ranked behind multinationals such as IBM and SAP. The list was topped by Santander Brasil, a division of the Spanish banking group that is one of the world’s largest companies. To arrive at the results, Newsweek collaborated with environmental research firms Trucost and Sustainalytics to assess each company’s environmental footprint, management of that footprint, and transparency.

Bell says it was the first Canadian communications company to achieve ISO 14001 certification for its environmental management system, in 2009.

BCE is the parent company of Bell Media, which owns the Canadian television networks, CTV and CTV Two, plus thirty other specialty television channels, Bell Media Radio, and a chain of retail stores. BCE owns 18% of the Montreal Canadiens and, along with its competitor Rogers, now owns a majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns several Toronto professional sports franchises, including the Toronto Maple Leafs. BCE ranked number 262 on the 2011 edition of the Forbes Global 2000 list.

Earlier this month, The CRTC announced it had denied BCE’s application to acquire control of Astral Media’s television and radio services because it is not in the public interest. BCE had wanted to buy the Quebec-based multimedia company for $3.4 billion.

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