Ecolab Is Ethical

Maybe it should change its name to Ethicalabs. For the ninth year in a row, Ecolab Inc. has been recognized as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute, the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices. The distinction recognizes Ecolab's achievement in transparency, integrity, ethics and compliance. Ecolab has been named a World's Most Ethical Company every year since the honor's inception in 2007.

“This recognition is a testament to the integrity and high ethical standards our 47,000 Ecolab associates demonstrate every day as they work to make the world cleaner, safer and healthier,” said Ecolab Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Douglas M. Baker, Jr. “Our long-term success is grounded in responsible and ethical business practices, and we are honored to be one of only 15 companies to be named to all nine World's Most Ethical Companies lists.”

The World's Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute's Ethics Quotient (EQ) framework. The EQ framework has been developed over years of research to provide a means to assess an organization's performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies, rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics. The framework and methodology is determined, vetted and refined by the expert advice and insights gleaned from Ethisphere's network of thought leaders and from the World's Most Ethical Company Methodology Advisory Panel.

“The World's Most Ethical Companies embrace the correlation between ethical business practice and improved company performance,” said Ethisphere Chief Executive Officer Timothy Erblich. “Earning this recognition involves the collective action of a global work force from the top down. We congratulate everyone at Ecolab for this extraordinary achievement.”

Assessment scores are generated in five key categories: ethics and compliance program (35%), corporate citizenship and responsibility (20%), culture of ethics (20%), governance (15%) and leadership, innovation and reputation (10%).