General Motors Recognized as one of the Most Ethical Companies

Ethisphere, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, recognized General Motors as one of the most ethical companies in 2020. GM was one of the four companies from the automotive sector to make it to the prestigious list. It is also the only company in the list that is an automotive original equipment manufacturer. The 2020 World’s Most Ethical Companies list comprises 132 companies drawn from 21 countries and 51 industries.

Ethisphere performed the assessment to compile the list based on the Ethisphere Institute’s Ethics Quotient® (EQ) framework. This framework serves as quantitative method to assess the performance of a company in an objective, consistent and standardized way. Companies receive a score with regard to five key categories: ethics and compliance program (35 percent), corporate citizenship and responsibility (20 percent), culture of ethics (20 percent), governance (15 percent) and leadership and reputation (10percent).

Commenting on inclusion in the list, GM’s Chairman and CEO, Mary Barra said that it is easier to stick to your values when things are going well, but it is more difficult when the going gets tough.

She added, “At General Motors, we are determined to lead the automotive industry in creating a world with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion, and to do it with integrity. This recognition as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies is a testament to the men and women of General Motors who are committed to doing the right thing, even when it’s hard.”

GM had announced this vision back in 2017 and has since committed to an all-electric, zero-emissions future with the goal of making it possible for people to live safer, more sustainable lives.

Last year, Barra had signed the Business Roundtable’s statement on the purpose of a corporation and committed to helm GM for the benefit of all its stakeholders, which includes its shareholders, customers, employees, suppliers and communities.

GM had also recently announced that it was expediting its sustainability goals to source 100 percent of its global electricity from renewables by 2040 and enable the reuse or recycling of 100 percent of EV batteries.

GM not only set sustainability goals, but also committed to increasing the percentage of sustainable materials in vehicles. The plan is to work with its suppliers in order to ensure that at least 50 percent of the materials in GM vehicles will be sustainable by 2030.

Ethisphere’s Chief Executive Officer, Timothy Erblich congratulated everyone at General Motors for earning this accolade. He said that this was the moment to acknowledge the leaders working to advance corporate cultures defined by integrity and affirm those companies contributing to broader societal imperatives and the greater good.

GM had also been included in the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index in January 2020. This is an index which tracks the financial performance of public companies committed to supporting gender equality through policy development, representation and transparency.

Methodology & Scoring
Grounded in Ethisphere’s proprietary Ethics Quotient®, the assessment process for preparing the list of the World’s Most Ethical Companies includes over 200 questions related to a company’s culture, environmental and social practices, ethics and compliance activities, governance, diversity and steps taken to support a strong value chain. This process serves as an operating framework to capture and codify the leading practices of organizations across industries and around the globe. Ethispere will be collating the best practices and insights from the companies included in the 2020 list and releasing them in a report and webcast in March and April of this year.

All companies that participate in the assessment process receive an Analytical Scorecard that provides them with an idea of where they stand in relation to the demanding standards of leading companies.
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