Shell, Exxon get high environmental ratings.

Royal Dutch/Shell and Exxon Corp. have emerged as the top two environmental performers in a study of selected oil and gas companies' "eco-efficiency" The study was performed by Innovest Strategic Value Advisors Inc., Toronto.

"Shell's $500 million investment in renewables and Exxon's leading role with GM, Toyota, and Renault in the development of low-emissions gasolines were notable 'plus points,'" said Innovest.

Innovest is an investment advisory firm that specializes in environmentally oriented finance and investment opportunities. For this report, the firm analyzed more than 60 performance parameters for each of 13 large-capitalization U.S. oil and gas companies, plus Royal Dutch/Shell.

With regard to Shell's inclusion, Innovest Senior Analyst Martin Whittaker said, "Our analysis was carried out for the entire global company, but emissions data and Superfund information (for Shell) are U.S.-based, as they are for all the companies. We have normalized this to account for company size, so that the data is revenue-neutral."

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