The New York-based think-tank The Ethisphere Institute has published its fifth annual list of the World’s Most Ethical companies. About 3,000 companies from more than 100 countries were evaluated and the winners were selected.

From the think-tank’s site:

The World’s Most Ethical Companies designation recognizes companies that truly go beyond making statements about doing business “ethically” and translate those words into action. WME honorees demonstrate real and sustained ethical leadership within their industries, putting into real business practice the Institute’s credo of “Good. Smart. Business. Profit.”

There is no set number of companies that make the list each year. Rather, the World’s Most Ethical Company designation is awarded to those companies that have leading ethics and compliance programs, particularly as compared to their industry peers.

1) Foreign Companies in The World’s Most Ethical Companies list:

Housing Development Finance Corp (HDB)
Kesko
The Co-Operative Group
Natura Cosmeticos
Solae
The Rezidor Hotel Group
Svenska Cellulosa (SVNCY)
Schneider Electric (SBGSY)
Sompo Japan Insurance
Swiss Re (SWCEY)
Thomson Reuters (TRI)
Becton Dickinson
Royal Phillips (PHG)
Umicore
British Land plc (BTLCY)
Unibail-Rodamco
Hennes & Mauritz
Sonae
Singapore Telecom
Swisscom
Autoridad del Canal de Panama
East Japan Railway Company
Nippon Yusen Kabushi Kaisha
Stora Enso Oyj (SEOAY)
Svenska Cellulosa
Henkel AG(HENKY)

2) U.S. Companies in The World’s Most Ethical Companies list:

Rockwell Collins Inc. (COL)
Juniper Networks (JNPR)
The Aerospace Corporation
Gap (GAP)
Xerox (XRX)
Kimpton Hotels
Texas Instruments (TXN)
International Paper (IP)
Kimpton Hotels
Patagonia
Timberland (TBL)
eBay (EBAY)
Cummins (CMI)
Ford Motor Company (F)
Johnson Controls (JCI)
Dun & Bradstreet (DB)
Noblis
Ecolab (ECL)
JM Huber
Hitachi Data Systems
Adobe Systems (ADBE)
Microsoft (MSFT)
Salesforce.com (CRM)
Symantec Corporation (SYMC)
Teradata Corporation (TDC)
Granite Construction(GVN)
Parsons Corporation
Colgate-Palmolive Company (CL)
General Electric Co. (GE)
Freescale Semiconductor (FCS)
NextEra Energy, Inc.(NEE)
Wisconsin Energy Corporation (WEC)
AECOM Technology Corporation
CH2M Hill
Fluor Corporation (FLR)
Waste Management (WM)
American Express (AXP)
NYSE Euronext (NYX)
The Hartford Financial Services Group (HFG)
General Mills (GIS)
PepsiCo (PEP)
Stonyfield Farm
Wegmans
Whole Food Market (WFMI)
Baptist Health South Florida
Hospital Corporation of America (HCA)
Wyndham Worldwide (WYN)
Caterpillar (CAT)
Deere & Company (DE)
Eaton Corporation(ETN)
Marriott International
Aflac Incorporated (AFL)
Milliken & Company
Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Co.
Zappos
Becton Dickinson (BDX)
Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL)
Starbucks Coffee Company (SBUX)
Medicis (MRX)
Best Buy Co. (BBY)
Target (TGT)
Ten Thoand Villages
Manpower (MAN)
Avaya Inc.
Cisco Systems (CSCO)
T-Mobile USA
UPS (UPS)

Disclosure: Long BTLCY, GIS,  NEE, HENKY