America's Greenest Companies: 2009

Photo: Getty Images The Carbon Disclosure Project has been tracking the carbon footprint of S&P-500 members since 2003. This year, for the first time, its report ranks companies based on their plans and actions to reduce emissions. This year, 332 companies responded to the voluntary survey, vs. 321 a year ago For 2009, the project actually applied a performance metric, but since it is a pilot program, the project has opted not to release specific numbers. Instead, it has released the names of the 14 companies that posted the highest scores. Questions asked of each company in the survey range from whether it has reduced emissions from last year to whether the company meets with policy makers to figure out how it could cut emissions. Specific questions in the survey were given a point value and added to come up with the list of 14 companies. (You can read more about the methodology by clicking here. The full report is here.) Click on to see the list of companies (in alphabetical order). We've also included their total 2008 emissions where available. Posted Oct. 13, 2009

Photo: AP Sector: Consumer Discretionary Total Emissions: N/A

Photo: Mike Clarke/AFP/Getty Images Sector: Industrials Total Emissions: 1,679,000 metric tons

Photo: AP Sector: Information Technology Total Emissions: 598,382 metric tons

Photo: Chris Hondros/Getty Images Sector: Utilities Total Emissions: 4,769,429 metric tons

Photo: Joe Raedle/Newsmakers Sector: Information Technology Total Emissions: 406,252 metric tons

Photo: Jeff Fusco/Getty Images Sector: Materials Total Emissions: 13,339,560 metric tons

Photo: Darren McCollester/Getty Images Sector: Information Technology Total Emissions: 371,620 metric tons

Photo: Jeff Haynes/AFP/Getty Images Sector: Utilities Total Emissions: 9,664,883 metric tons

Photo: AP Sector: Information Technology Total Emissions: 2,449,378 metric tons

Photo: AP Sector: Consumer Discretionary Total Emissions: 637,274 metric tons

Photo: AP Sector: Utilities Total Emissions: 3,038,868 metric tons

Photo: PPG Industries Sector: Materials Total Emissions: 6,248,264 metric tons

Photo: electralink.com Sector: Energy Total Emissions: 2,152,970 metric tons

Photo: UTC Sector: Industrials Total Emissions: 2,081,907 metric tons