Doing Well While Doing Good (EDITORS NOTE)

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. makes a lot of money, of course. But that is not all the Bentonville company should be known for.

American business publication Fortune thought so, too. For the first time, the magazine compiled and published a ranking of companies based not on their size or their bottom line, but rather the good they are doing as part of their core business strategy.

The magazine’s “Change The World” list, published online Aug. 20, includes 50 companies who are doing well financially while also doing good. Companies that are solving problems and achieving a positive business benefit at the same time.

Vodafone (England) and Safaricom (Kenya) tied at the top of the list for taking a mobile money platform to people without access to traditional banking services.

Google came in second place for products that expand knowledge. 

Toyota was third for creating cars designed to lower emissions.

At No. 4 on the list? Walmart, which does sustainability on a gigantic scale.

“It has been 10 years since former CEO Lee Scott kicked off a new era of corporate responsibility at Walmart,” Fortune wrote in its profile of the company. “Walmart today gets 26 percent of its electricity from renewable sources and operates with 9 percent less energy intensity than in 2010. Nearly 1,300 of its suppliers now use its Sustainability Index, and by the end of 2015 the company will have eliminated 20 million metric tons of greenhouse-gas emissions from its supply chain.”

Fortune also threw a kudo Walmart’s way for its minimum-wage hike earlier this year, prompting some rivals to boost their pay as well.

In an environment where it seems pro-Walmart items are rare, I thought it was worth noting. The list also included such global brands as Nike, IBM, Starbucks and Facebook.