International Business Machines (IBM) ranked first among large businesses in confronting climate change, according to a study published on Friday.

Tesco, the British supermarket chain, and Dell Inc. came second and third respectively in the study carried in the San Francisco Chronicle.

The study also gave good grades to Silicon Valley high-tech firms like Intel, Applied Materials, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett- Packard, Cisco Systems and Safeway, but a relatively poor grade for Apple, which authors of the study said was late to the effort compared with other tech companies.

The ranking, by Ceres, a Boston group that joins investors and environmentalists to push businesses to improve their environmental records, makes a case that going green makes good business sense, the paper said.

The study showed that some major technology and consumer companies are doing praiseworthy work in confronting the business challenges posed by climate change, while others' efforts are wanting.

The analysis of the climate change governance practices of some of the world's largest retail, pharmaceutical, technology, apparel and other companies is intended to give those earning high marks their due and motivation to low scorers, and to inform consumers about best practices.

"Investors care about how these companies stack up against each other," said Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres and director of the Investor Network on Climate Risk, a coalition of 70 investors with, according to Ceres, collective assets of 7 trillion U.S. dollars and focused on the business impacts from climate change.

"Businesses know how their environmental records impact the bottom line and consumers care about the companies with products they are purchasing," Lubber said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2008)