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20 Companies Changing the World for the Better

NEW YORK, July 18 /PRNewswire/ -- SustainableBusiness.com today announced its 2007 Sustainable Business 20 (SB20) List: The World's Top Sustainable Stocks. The SB20 list, in its sixth year, consists of 20 public companies that are having an important impact on creating an environmentally sustainable society.

The list is presented in the Progressive Investor newsletter, published by SustainableBusiness.com, which tracks sustainable stocks.

"Our goal is to create a list that showcases public companies that, over the past year, have made substantial progress in either greening their internal operations or growing a business based on an important green technology, says Rona Fried, Ph.D., SustainableBusiness.com CEO and Editor of Progressive Investor.

To choose the 20 companies, SustainableBusiness.com partnered with KLD Research & Analytics, which provided a preliminary universe of 50 global companies with strong "green" initiatives and solid financials. KLD also served as a judge along with five leading green investment analysts to decide on the final list.

Energy Efficiency/Renewable Energy

This year, energy efficiency took center stage. Efficiency offers the least expensive, best economic returns, and most dramatic ways to reduce greenhouse emissions, simply by reducing energy consumption in the first place.

Comverge energy-management technologies save enormous amounts of energy by cutting peak demand, while keeping the filthiest fossil fuel plants off-line. Philips has been snapping up market share in LED lighting, advocating for and preparing to stop producing inefficient incandescents. Fuel Tech's technology cleans up the dirtiest fossil fuel plants, and Novozymes, "green chemicals" are keys to industrial efficiency and cellulosic biofuels.

REC is the world's most vertically integrated solar company; First Solar is the first public company to produce high volume, low cost thin film solar. Vestas, the world's premier wind company, has maintained its leadership position despite heavy competition. Ormat is the world geothermal leader, and Schmack Biogas is the world's leading biogas plant manufacturer, turning organic wastes into electricity, heat or fuels.

Green Building

For Land Securities, the UK's largest property owner, all new buildings meet green building standards, while it works to incorporate gray water, rainwater harvesting, FSC-certified wood, and Fair Trade/ Organic foods company-wide.

Interface continues its climb up "Mount Sustainability," innovating in the materials and processes used to make carpet tiles. Furniture maker Herman Miller, another stalwart sustainability leader, is 63% on its way to achieving its goal of Zero Ecological Footprint by 2020.

Consumer Products

Canon is making its products smaller and lighter, and has an aggressive target of cutting C02 emissions by 50% by 2010. Nike is using green design principles to transform its products, root out waste and toxics, and plans to be carbon neutral by 2015.

Natural Foods/ Natural Products

Groupe Danone, the world's largest dairy company, is converting more to organic dairy, sustainable agriculture. Its groundbreaking joint venture, Grameen Danone Foods, will create hundreds of jobs by manufacturing nutritionally dense, basic foods -- run on solar and biogas -- to low income populations in Bangladesh. It's a model for 50 plants in India over the next 10 years.

The world's largest retailer of organic/ natural products, Whole Foods, and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, the leader in Fair Trade/ Organic coffee, have been on the SB20 since inception. They are exemplary models all around, and are largely responsible for the mainstreaming of natural foods/ sustainable coffee. Both companies are climate neutral.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, with over 600 restaurants, is making waves in the world of fast food by serving free range meats and integrating organic ingredients into its menus.

The SB20 List for 2007 - Alphabetical Order

Best Water Technology (Vienna: BWT.VI) (Austria)
Canon (NYSE:CAJ) (Japan)
Comverge (NASDAQ:COMV) (USA)
Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) (USA)
First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) (USA)
Fuel Tech (NASDAQ:FTEK) (USA)
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ:GMCR) (USA)
Groupe Danone (DANO.PA) Netherlands
Herman Miller (NASDAQ:MLHR) (USA)
Interface (NASDAQ:IFSIA) (USA)
Land Securities (LONDON: Land.L) Britain
NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) (USA)
Novozymes (Copenhagen: NZYM.CO) Denmark
Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA) (USA)
Precious Woods (Geneva: SWX: PRWN) Switzerland
Renewable Energy Corp - REC (Oslo: REC.OL) Norway
Royal Philips Electronics NV (NYSE:PHG) Netherlands
Schmack Biogas AG (Germany: SB1B.DE) Germany
Vestas (Copenhagen: VWS.CO) Denmark
Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ:WFMI) (USA)

Honorable Mention:
Google, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

The SB20 Judges:
Andrew Brengle, Senior Research Analyst, KLD Research & Analytics
Rafael Coven, Managing Partner, Cleantech Indices LLC
Matt Patsky, Managing Director, Winslow Green Growth Fund
Patrick McVeigh, President, Reynders, McVeigh Capital Management
Max Deml, Editor & Publisher, Oeko Invest Publishing Ltd
Ton Rennen, Senior Sustainability Analyst, Triodos Bank NV

About Progressive Investor

Progressive Investor, a monthly newsletter, provides analysis of clean technology investment opportunities: renewable energy, energy efficiency, green building, healthy lifestyle.

About SustainableBusiness.com

SustainableBusiness.com provides global news and networking services to help green businesses grow: Daily Sustainable Business and Investor news, Green Dream Jobs, Progressive Investor.

About KLD Research & Analytics, Inc.

KLD is a leading provider of environmental, social and governance research and indexes.

Contacts:
Rona Fried, Editor, Progressive Investor
President, SustainableBusiness.com
631-423-3277
rona@sustainablebusiness.com

Peter D. Kinder, President
KLD Research & Analytics, Inc.
Tel. 617-426-5270
or
Amy Blumenthal/Karen Myers, Blumenthal & Associates
Tel. 617-879-1511; 978-502-6218 (Mobile)
amyb@blumenthalpr.com; kmyers@blumenthalpr.com

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: SustainableBusiness.com

CONTACT: Rona Fried, Editor, Progressive Investor, President,
SustainableBusiness.com, +1-631-423-3277, rona@sustainablebusiness.com; Peter
D. Kinder, President, KLD Research & Analytics, Inc., +1-617-426-5270; Amy
Blumenthal, amyb@blumenthalpr.com, or Karen Myers, kmyers@blumenthalpr.com,
both of Blumenthal & Associates, +1-617-879-1511, +1-978-502-6218 (Mobile)

Web site:

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/

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Profile: Media News