Sweden has the world's most "responsibly competitive" companies, according to a State of Responsible Competitiveness 2007 report released on Friday.
The report, issued by the London-based think thank AccountAbility, graded countries based on corporate responsibility issues like environment, climate change, anti-corruption and human rights.
Nordic countries reached the top four positions, with Denmark, Finland and Iceland following No. 1 Sweden. Those were followed by Great Britain, Norway, New Zealand, Ireland, Australia and Canada. The U.S. was lower on the list but managed to make the top 20.
The report was released during the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit on corporate citizenship being held in Geneva on Thursday and Friday. Hundreds of business, government and civil workers met at the summit to talk about unifying principles of social responsibilities.
The Responsible Competitiveness study covered 108 countries, which were given points for each responsible business practice, such as carbon dioxide emissions and human rights policies.
The report, with a foreword by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, aims to be a guide for policy makers and business leaders looking to be more competitive through responsible corporations. The study also shows that by not being responsibly competitive, countries can miss out on their share of a future market worth as much as $750 billion by 2050.