Natmags, which publishes Harpers, Country Life and Esquire among others, came 2nd overall, and top for medium and large companies. It is up from 10th in 2008. The Times’s survey commended the company for “offering London’s birdlife a retreat from the city with its Soho roof garden, which is home to compost-producing wormeries, too.” Natmags is also ISO 14001 certified, and spent £108,000 on green initiatives last year, including a monthly staff competition (£200) for ideas. You can read the Natmags green report.

So what makes a company green? According to the results, these are some of the highlights:

• The boss matters: “You can have all sorts of formal management processes in place but often it is an inspirational boss or leader who makes all the difference in terms of engaging staff and taking them along with him or her.” (Sarah Davidson, technical director at environmental consultancy Bureau Veritas)
• Communication matters: Toby Robins, operations and environment director at office equipment company Wiles Greenworld, ranked sixth overall for My Boss results: “Everyone who understands the issues will be green. It’s a matter of education.”
• Detail matters: “It is difficult to motivate anyone to do anything that you’re not willing to do yourself,” says Zoe Robinson, sustainable development manager at Warren Evans (I can vouch for their beds). “We have an individual green policy for each area of the business, from delivery to the showroom.”
• Integrity matters: “If there isn’t integrity — if you’re expecting people to do things you wouldn’t do — it’s just a marketing gimmick.”

Natmags was the only publisher to get into the top 50.

I’d certainly like to know how these organisational environmental benefits work their way into the outputs of the different businesses. For Warren Evans, for example, the furniture manufacturer, that’s a little easier to see - the choice of wood, the choice of fuel to run their delivery vans. Warren Evans have also won Observer awards for their ethical retail. But what about publishers - the choice of paper, the mindsets of the editors, the distribution channels and the content of their magazines (not to mention the advertising messages from their advertisers).

It’s a question I’ll be putting to Natmags in the next week, I hope. (x-posted at GreenJournalism.co.uk)