Csrnetwork and AccountAbility: Chevron is a World Leader in Accountability

Business Wire, Nov 2, 2007

LONDON -- Chevron makes it into the top ten most accountable global companies, and appears as the most highly ranked US company (9th place) in the Accountability Rating[TM] 2007.

Other American companies to feature in this annual study of the Fortune G-100 include General Electric (13th), Marathon Oil (21st) General Motors (22nd) and Hewlett-Packard (24th).

The Accountability Rating[TM] produced by international think-tank AccountAbility and CR consultancy Csrnetwork, and now in its fourth year, rigorously assesses the information G-100 companies themselves put into the public domain, as well as data on actual social and environmental performance. It rates companies on four domains - strategy, governance, engagement and impact.

"Thanks to its concerted efforts to encourage people to work together to find viable answers to future energy demands, Chevron has improved greatly in the Accountability Rating since 2006, when it was in 30th place," says Todd Cort, Principal Consultant of Csrnetwork.

The top five companies in the Accountability Rating[TM] 2007 are:

(1) BP (2) Barclays (3) ENI (4).HSBC Holdings, (5) Vodafone

The Rating shows that US companies perform well in managing their impact, with General Electric leading the G-100 on impact score. Hewlett-Packard is the fifth best company at embedding social and environmental issues into its strategy. However, the Rating also shows that US companies are weak on stakeholder engagement, with the 34 US companies in the G-100 scoring an average of 13.6%, lower than the average of 25.8%.

"When the best managed US companies get it right, they can be as accountable as any in the world ", says Dr. Simon Zadek, CEO of AccountAbility. "What's exciting is to see how the rest of the US-headquartered Global 100 are responding to the accountability challenge. We are beginning to see a significant breaking of ranks, notably in the banking sector."

Despite recent headlines, BP remains a leader in accountable practices, taking the overall top position. The company performs well with independent assurance statements, a good governance structure and a high level of and public disclosure, and has been progressive in multi-stakeholder initiatives like the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and the US Climate Action Partnership.

The oil, gas and automotive sectors outperform the G-100 average, reaffirming that those in the global spotlight facing the toughest challenges, tend to progress furthest and fastest.

See the Accountability Rating[TM] 2007 in full in Fortune International,

at www.accountabilityrating.com, or join the debate at www.fortune.com

Csrnetwork is a leading consultancy dedicated to helping companies worldwide to do business in a responsible way. Clients include Arcelor Mittal, Bacardi, First Group and Toyota.

www.csrnetwork.com

AccountAbility is an international think tank that promotes accountability innovations for sustainable development such as the AA1000 Standards, the Partnership, Governance and Accountability Network and the Responsible Competitiveness Index.

www.accountability21.net