10 green giants

These companies have gone beyond what the law requires to operate in an environmentally responsible way.

Goldman invested $1.5 billion in cellulosic ethanol, wind and solar power.

8 of 10

Goldman Sachs

Location: New York

Year founded: 1869

Revenue: $69.4 Billion

Employees: 24,000

Bold climate-change policy shapes major investments.

When Goldman Sachs announced a groundbreaking environmental policy in 2005, critics said chief executive Hank Paulson was imposing his green ethos. Wrong. The bank has become even more planet-friendly since Paulson left. Why? Because it is doing lots of green business.

Goldman's investment of $1.5 billion in cellulosic ethanol, wind and solar have paid off. Texas Pacific and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts turned to Goldman, which had built bridges to environmental groups, as they prepared a bid for Texas energy company TXU. Research clients are pleased that Goldman's equity analysts in Europe now factor environmental, social and governance issues into their reports. "The world's changing," says one Goldman official. The company is too - some cars that take bankers home are hybrids. --Marc Gunther

Sources: Department of Energy; Eia; Ceres; Aron Cramer; Business for Social Responsibility; Dan Esty; Jonathan Lash, World Resources Institute; Matthew Kiernan, Innovest Strategic Value Advisors; Fred Krupp, Environmental Defense; Joel Makower, Greener World Media; Kld Research; Natural Resources Defense Council; Glen Pricket, Conservation International; Andrew Savitz

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