For Earth Day 2026, USA TODAY reveals America's Climate Leaders

• The list highlights 500 U.S. companies that are successfully reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.
• Companies are ranked based on criteria like emission intensity, reduction rates, and carbon disclosure ratings.

Corrections & Clarifications: A previous version of this story misspelled an expert's last name. The correct spelling is Árvai.

From driving electric vehicles to installing solar panels, many Americans are trying to reduce their carbon footprint. For Earth Day on April 22, USA TODAY takes a closer look at the companies doing the same.

To better understand which U.S. companies are making strides toward tackling climate change, USA TODAY has partnered with market research firm Statista for its fourth-annual America's Climate Leaders list. In four years, this list has grown from 300 to 500 companies.

This list remains one of the few tools available to climate-conscious readers who want to learn more about companies successfully reducing their emissions. Previous federal efforts to introduce a similar tool have been halted, with no clear indication of resuming.

This year's top list makers include technology company RAMBUS, furniture company The Lovesac Co., and fintech company Tradeweb Markets. Each of these organizations reduced its core emissions by more than 90% year-over-year.

'Consumers care' about climate change

Many companies see a real financial benefit to cutting their emissions. It can lower costs and attract new customers.

"American and global consumers care and are worried about climate change... so, there's a clear incentive for companies that are providing goods and services to those people to address their needs and expectations," said Joe Árvai, director of the Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Southern California. "Being seen as climate-friendly creates a nice, warm glow around your enterprise and, from a climate perspective, that can be beneficial."

But it's not just great optics; there are real financial benefits for companies that promote green initiatives and increase efforts to tackle climate change. A 2025 report by Boston Consulting Group found that 82% of surveyed companies receive economic benefits from decarbonization, or the process of working toward the elimination of greenhouse gas emissions. The study further found that many consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable products, while companies are saving money through the increased efficiency resulting from climate initiatives.

How do Statista and USA TODAY choose companies?

Statista began with a list of more than 2,000 U.S.-based companies with revenue of over $50 million in 2024. It compiles the companies' greenhouse gas emission reports and revenues for 2022 and 2024 by using sustainability and annual reports.

Companies with absolute emissions increased by more than 50% between 2022 and 2024 were eliminated from the list.

Here are some of the considerations used in the rankings: 

• Emission intensity: The amount of greenhouse gas a company produces relative to its revenue. This helps put big companies and small companies on a level playing field. 
• Annualized reductions in emission intensity: Calculated between 2022 and 2024. Companies that showed low reductions were not considered. 
• Carbon disclosure rating: A measure of a company’s environmental sustainability. These rankings are administered by CDP, the nonprofit that runs a global disclosure system for companies’ environmental impacts. 
• Other criteria: Some enterprises were excluded if known business practices suggested they couldn’t be seen as a climate leader.  
• Data used: Scope 1 and 2 emissions, based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the world’s most widely used greenhouse gas accounting standard. 

The full, interactive list below allows readers to view a variety of criteria, including emission intensity, year-over-year reduction of emission intensity, how many tons of CO2 equivalents the company emitted, total emissions reduction, and whether a company participated in two highly regarded programs that set targets for and account for emissions, the CDP and Science Based Targets initiative.