Sunrun

Does the core business genuinely avoid or reduce emissions, or build climate resilience? Share of revenue that is actually 'green'. Fossil-dependent models score low.

Sunrun's core product is residential solar generation, and its installed fleet is estimated (via EPA's AVERT tool) to have offset 3.8 million metric tons of CO₂ annually and 18 million metric tons cumulatively since 2007 — a credible, large-scale mitigation contribution, though the methodology is self-reported and avoidance figures are not third-party verified at the system level.

Credible, science-based targets (SBTi), a real net-zero plan with progress to date, and CDP disclosure — not just a dated press release.

Sunrun's near-term (54.6% absolute Scope 1 & 2 reduction by 2033; 61.1% Scope 3 intensity reduction by 2033) and net-zero targets (90% absolute reduction by 2050 from a 2022 base) were formally validated by SBTi in August 2024 under the Corporate Net-Zero Standard — the most credible third-party climate target framework available — though no CDP disclosure score was found in the public record.

Operational footprint, labour and social practices, and governance quality across the company's own operations and supply chain.

Sunrun publishes annual Impact Reports covering employee volunteering, recycling (100% of removed panels, batteries, and inverters redeployed or recycled in 2023), and eight Employee Resource Groups, but its third-party ESG score of 42 falls below the industry average, significant layoffs (495 WARN-notified workers in 2023–24) and ongoing reports of 2025 workforce reductions raise material social/labor concerns.

Quality of disclosure, independent third-party verification, and how much hard data backs the company's claims.

Sunrun discloses Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions with year-over-year data, publishes annual Impact Reports (since 2017), and uses EPA AVERT methodology for avoided-emission calculations, but avoided-emissions figures are self-estimated rather than independently verified, no CDP response score was identified, and third-party assurance of GHG data is not clearly documented in public filings.

Controversies, litigation, pollution, fossil-fuel lobbying, conflict-zone involvement and governance scandals. Higher means cleaner.

Connecticut's Attorney General filed a lawsuit in July 2024 against Sunrun and affiliated sales companies alleging deceptive, unfair, and unlawful sales practices — including allegations that salespeople forged homeowners' signatures and impersonated voices using AI — and customers were enrolled in undisclosed 25-year escalating price contracts without consent; Sunrun also faced an earlier (2013) class action over misleading cost-savings marketing claims.