AEROSPACE

Boeing

Headquarters: Chicago

Revenue: $66.4 billion

Studies show that greenhouse-gas emissions from aircraft could more than triple by 2050.

With more than 800 orders already placed and sales of over $100 billion recorded, Boeing's 787 Dreamliner is the fastest-selling passenger jet in history, and thanks to an innovative carbon-composite construction, the midsize 787 will be lighter and an estimated 20 percent more fuel efficient than comparable airplanes. Boeing says it delivers "exceptional environmental performance." But recently, Britain's Advertising Standards Authority, which has been on the lookout for misleading environmental claims in ads, reprimanded Boeing for overstating the fuel efficiency of another aircraft, its yet-to-launch 747-8 Intercontinental. Despite its efforts to reduce CO₂, the company has been less than transparent about its greenhouse-gas emissions. After initially declining to participate in the Carbon Disclosure Project, an investor-led initiative that gathers information on companies' carbon footprint, Boeing responded the past two years but declined to make the information public. Air pollution aside, Boeing was slapped with $500,000 in water-pollution fines last September for its laboratory near Simi Valley, California. According to the Los Angeles Regional Water Board, which levied the fines, Boeing had exceeded limits on dumping dioxin, lead, and mercury, among other pollutants. The E.P.A. is considering adding the 2,850-acre laboratory to its list of Superfund sites, citing concerns about the local drinking-water supply.

What the company says: Boeing claims that it has substantially reduced emissions and noise pollution in its aircraft, that it has an aggressive plan moving forward, and that it calculated the efficiency of its aircraft using the industry-standard formula.