That old corporate demon Wal-Mart is preaching renewable energy. DuPont is pioneering corn-based bioplastics. General Electric's NBC Universal unit turned off the lights in its studio smack in the middle of a Sunday Night Football broadcast last season and urged viewers to do the same in their homes. Most major American corporations are trying to board the environmental bandwagon, and practically any C.E.O. can expound on the threat of global climate change and the virtues of sustainable growth. But what does all this corporate green really mean?

Condé Nast Portfolio decided to take a closer look (see our coverage of the "green" trend). Concerned that many corporate environmental efforts may be degenerating into self-serving marketing stunts, we endeavored to separate the admirable (Whole Foods' purchase of enough wind-energy credits to offset 100 percent of its electricity use) from the laughable (the "green" holiday window display at Barneys department store last Christmas that recommended such must-have gifts as "a Prius in a pear tree").

Our team consulted dozens of government agencies, court records, and environmental watchdog groups. We also spoke extensively with representatives from the corporations themselves. We looked at firms in a variety of industries, not just the traditional smokestack polluters. This process, though informed by scientific data, contains a heavy dose of subjective judgment. Consequently, neither our Toxic 10 list of offenders nor our Green 11 roster of good guys should be seen as empirical rankings. These are merely companies that we think could be doing better, given their resources and position in their industries, or those that deserve to be commended. We hope our findings will inspire lively debate and, most of all, some serious thought about what corporations can do to really make a difference for the environment.

FOOD

J.R. Simplot Co.
Headquarters: Boise, Idaho
Revenue: $11.9 billion¹

Last summer, the E.P.A. determined that a Simplot factory was the main source of a potentially deadly amount of phosphorus dumped into the Portneuf River.
Simplot produces more than 3 billion pounds of french fries annually and supplies McDonald's with over half of its potato inventory. But some of the company's nonedible products—including phosphate, phosphorus, and nitrate compounds—have made it infamous among environmentalists. For decades, Simplot has stored the waste by-products from its Pocatello, Idaho, fertilizer factory in an unlined stockpile that has contaminated the surrounding groundwater and polluted the nearby Portneuf River with a mixture of toxins, including arsenic and nitrate. Although Simplot has worked to clean up the site, which is listed as a Superfund site, it has also continued to operate the fertilizer plant.

Not only does Simplot process the fertilizer, it also mines the phosphate ore that makes it, a practice that has contaminated southeastern Idaho with mining waste and selenium, a natural trace element that can be deadly in large quantities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned of harmful air pollutants from Simplot's Superfund site. In 2004, the company's silica-sand-mining facility in Overton, Nevada, was fined $500,000 by the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to control its sulfur-dioxide emissions. The facility was required to install $2 million worth of pollution-control equipment as well.

What the company says: Simplot understands that certain groups will be upset by its phosphate mining and is working with the government to clean up its sites.

Note: ¹According to most recent annual data available.