Jul 1st, 2008 8:40 AM

IBM Tops List of 50 Best Corporate Citizens in Canada for 2008

(Toronto, Ontario, June 30, 2008) Corporate Knights has released the 7th Annual Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada, the definitive annual list of Canada’s top corporate citizens.

Citizenship indicators include pension fund quality, diversity, pollution, CEO-pay fairness, and tax dollar generation, as well as sector specific indicators such as renewable energy investments (for financial companies) and fleet efficiency (for auto companies).

The Best Corporate Citizen for 2008 was IBM. Its diverse Board of Directors, wide-ranging sustainability initiatives, innovative product lines combined to give the company strong baseline and sector-specific scores.

This year, the retail sector moved up overall, thanks to the inclusion of a new retail-specific indicator that evaluated facility waste reduction and conservation.

The total amount of unfunded pensions in TSX 60 companies has been declining since 2005. TSX 60 companies had a pension gap of $5.8 billion in fiscal 2007, down from $7.3 billion in fiscal 2006.

“The Best 50 Corporate Citizens represent a list of companies that are set to lead--not follow--what we expect will be a year of unprecedented changes on the regulatory landscape,” says Toby Heaps, Editor-in-Chief of Corporate Knights.

The full methodology and analysis of the Best 50 Corporate Citizens will be detailed at http://www.corporateknights.ca/special-reports/63-best-50-corporate-citi.... html and summarized in the Best 50 2008 issue (Vol. 7.1) of Corporate Knights, found in the Globe and Mail on June 30 in Eastern Canada and July 7 in Western Canada.

The Best 50 Corporate Citizens 2008