How the S&P 500 Scores on Ethical Integrity: A Data Analysis
If you own an index fund, you own the S&P 500. And if you own the S&P 500, you own a basket of companies that, on average, score negative on ethical integrity.
That is not an opinion. It is what the data shows.
We scored 40 of the largest companies in the S&P 500 across 11 independent ethical dimensions using court filings, regulatory actions, investigative journalism, and NGO reports. No self-reported ESG data. No corporate sustainability disclosures. Just independently sourced, cited evidence processed through our scoring methodology.
The average score across all 40 companies was -6.2 out of 100. Only 11 companies (27.5%) scored positive overall. The remaining 29 (72.5%) scored negative.
The Numbers at a Glance
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Companies scored | 40 |
| Average score | -6.2 |
| Companies with positive average | 11 (27.5%) |
| Companies with negative average | 29 (72.5%) |
| Highest scoring company | Cisco Systems (+16.4) |
| Lowest scoring company | Exxon Mobil (-25.0) |
The S&P 500 is often treated as a neutral, diversified investment. These numbers suggest it is anything but neutral from an ethical standpoint. The majority of the index's largest constituents carry net-negative ethical scores in our analysis.
The Top 5: Positive Performers
These five companies scored highest in our 40-company sample. All five finished with positive averages across all 11 dimensions.
1. Cisco Systems (CSCO) -- Average Score: +16.4
Cisco leads our S&P 500 sample with the highest average score.
| Dimension | Score |
|---|---|
| Honest & Fair Business | +60 |
| Respect for Cultures & Communities | +50 |
| Planet-Friendly Business | +40 |
| Safe & Smart Tech | +30 |
| Better Health for All | +20 |
Cisco's +60 on governance is the joint-highest governance score among all 40 companies, reflecting a clean regulatory record. Its +50 on community respect is the single highest score on that dimension in our sample. Cisco's weakest area is ethical sourcing (-30), a challenge shared by most hardware-dependent technology companies.
View Cisco's full score breakdown -->
2. Visa (V) -- Average Score: +15.9
Visa is the highest-scoring financial services company in our sample by a wide margin.
| Dimension | Score |
|---|---|
| Safe & Smart Tech | +40 |
| Honest & Fair Business | +30 |
| Respect for Cultures & Communities | +25 |
Visa scores positively across most dimensions and, notably, records no negative scores in our data. That is a rare profile among S&P 500 companies. Its data privacy score of +40 is the highest among all financial services firms in our sample.
View Visa's full score breakdown -->
3. Adobe (ADBE) -- Average Score: +12.3
Adobe ranks third with a standout +70 on sustainable products -- the single highest score on any dimension in our entire S&P 500 sample.
| Dimension | Score |
|---|---|
| Zero Waste & Sustainable Products | +70 |
| Safe & Smart Tech | +40 |
| Respect for Cultures & Communities | +25 |
Adobe's digital-first business model naturally lends itself to lower waste scores, and independent data confirms strong commitments to sustainable operations. However, it scores -20 on both governance and the weapons dimension, indicating areas where evidence has surfaced.
View Adobe's full score breakdown -->
4. Salesforce (CRM) -- Average Score: +11.8
Salesforce earns the joint-highest governance score in our sample at +60, reflecting strong transparency and regulatory compliance records.
| Dimension | Score |
|---|---|
| Honest & Fair Business | +60 |
| Planet-Friendly Business | +40 |
| Safe & Smart Tech | +30 |
| Better Health for All | +20 |
Its environmental score of +40 reflects net-zero operations commitments. The trade-offs: -20 on worker respect and -20 on the weapons dimension.
View Salesforce's full score breakdown -->
5. Intel (INTC) -- Average Score: +10.5
Intel rounds out the top five with strong governance and tech safety scores, though its profile carries meaningful negatives.
| Dimension | Score |
|---|---|
| Honest & Fair Business | +60 |
| Safe & Smart Tech | +30 |
| Zero Waste & Sustainable Products | +30 |
| Respect for Cultures & Communities | +25 |
Intel's -30 on both environmental performance and the weapons dimension reflects the dual-use nature of semiconductor products in defence applications. A company can score +60 on governance and -30 on weapons simultaneously -- and that is precisely the kind of nuance a single ESG rating would obscure.
View Intel's full score breakdown -->
The Bottom 5: Lowest-Scoring Companies
These five companies scored lowest in our 40-company sample. All five carry averages below -18.
40. Exxon Mobil (XOM) -- Average Score: -25.0
Exxon Mobil scored lowest in our S&P 500 sample, with negative marks across nearly every dimension.
| Dimension | Score |
|---|---|
| Better Health for All | -40 |
| Fair Pay & Worker Respect | -40 |
| Planet-Friendly Business | -30 |
| Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing | -30 |
Exxon's best score on any dimension is 0 (Kind to Animals). It does not score positively on a single measure in our analysis. Its health score of -40 and worker respect score of -40 are driven by documented environmental health impacts and labour-related findings in public records.
View Exxon Mobil's full score breakdown -->
39. Boeing (BA) -- Average Score: -20.9
Boeing carries the second-lowest average, driven by a -70 on the weapons dimension and -60 on governance.
| Dimension | Score |
|---|---|
| No War, No Weapons | -70 |
| Honest & Fair Business | -60 |
| Planet-Friendly Business | -30 |
Boeing's -70 on the weapons dimension reflects its role as one of the world's largest defence contractors, documented through public procurement records. Its -60 on governance reflects regulatory penalties and safety-related legal proceedings that are a matter of public record.
View Boeing's full score breakdown -->
38. General Motors (GM) -- Average Score: -19.5
General Motors' profile is notable for a split: it scores +30 on sustainable products but -60 on weapons and -50 on tech safety.
| Dimension | Score |
|---|---|
| Zero Waste & Sustainable Products | +30 |
| Safe & Smart Tech | -50 |
| No War, No Weapons | -60 |
GM's positive sustainability score reflects waste reduction in manufacturing. Its weapons score reflects documented military vehicle contracts and defence partnerships. The tech safety score of -50 relates to data handling and vehicle technology concerns identified in independent assessments.
View General Motors' full score breakdown -->
37. Procter & Gamble (PG) -- Average Score: -19.1
Procter & Gamble, often considered a "safe" consumer staples holding, scored -19.1 in our analysis.
| Dimension | Score |
|---|---|
| No War, No Weapons | -50 |
| Fair Pay & Worker Respect | -30 |
| Planet-Friendly Business | -20 |
| Kind to Animals | -20 |
P&G's -50 on the weapons dimension may surprise investors who associate the company with household products. Its -30 on worker respect and -20 on animal welfare reflect supply chain labour findings and product testing practices documented in public reports.
View Procter & Gamble's full score breakdown -->
36. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) -- Average Score: -18.6
JPMorgan scores the single lowest governance score in our 40-company sample: -80.
| Dimension | Score |
|---|---|
| Honest & Fair Business | -80 |
| Fair Pay & Worker Respect | -30 |
| Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing | -20 |
A governance score of -80 is among the lowest in our entire database across all companies. It reflects a documented record of regulatory penalties, settlements, and legal proceedings across multiple jurisdictions spanning financial conduct, market manipulation, and compliance failures documented in public filings. JPMorgan does score +10 on health and +10 on tech safety, but these are not enough to offset the governance deficit.
View JPMorgan Chase's full score breakdown -->
Where the S&P 500 Performs Best and Worst
We calculated the average score for each of our 11 ethical dimensions across all 40 companies. The results reveal which values the index respects -- and which it does not.
Dimensions Where the Index Scores Positive
| Dimension | Average Score |
|---|---|
| Respect for Cultures & Communities | +10.9 |
| Better Health for All | +8.8 |
| Fair Money & Economic Opportunity | +0.8 |
Only three dimensions average positive across our sample. Respect for Cultures & Communities leads at +10.9, driven by community investment programmes and diversity initiatives that generate independently verifiable evidence. Better Health for All scores +8.8, reflecting health-related investments and public health contributions from pharmaceutical and technology companies.
Fair Money & Economic Opportunity barely crosses zero at +0.8 -- essentially neutral.
Dimensions Where the Index Scores Negative
| Dimension | Average Score |
|---|---|
| Zero Waste & Sustainable Products | -0.2 |
| Safe & Smart Tech | -4.2 |
| Kind to Animals | -5.0 |
| Planet-Friendly Business | -8.5 |
| Fair Pay & Worker Respect | -17.0 |
| Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing | -17.8 |
| Honest & Fair Business | -18.0 |
| No War, No Weapons | -18.2 |
Eight of 11 dimensions average negative. The worst three tell a clear story:
No War, No Weapons (-18.2): The S&P 500's weakest dimension. Major constituents like Boeing (-70), Microsoft (-60), General Motors (-60), GE Aerospace (-60), and Procter & Gamble (-50) carry significant documented defence contract exposure or military partnerships.
Honest & Fair Business (-18.0): Corporate governance is nearly as weak. JPMorgan's -80 is the most extreme case, but Goldman Sachs (-60), Boeing (-60), and multiple consumer brands score -30 or below. This dimension captures regulatory penalties, compliance failures, and legal proceedings -- the kind of evidence large companies tend to accumulate over decades of operation.
Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing (-17.8): Supply chain ethics score poorly across the board. Amazon (-40), Ford (-40), Home Depot (-40), and Nike (-30) all carry significant negatives. For companies that rely on global supply chains, independent evidence of labour and sourcing concerns is difficult to avoid.
The Full Ranking: All 40 Companies
| Rank | Company | Ticker | Average Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cisco Systems | CSCO | +16.4 |
| 2 | Visa | V | +15.9 |
| 3 | Adobe | ADBE | +12.3 |
| 4 | Salesforce | CRM | +11.8 |
| 5 | Intel | INTC | +10.5 |
| 6 | Apple | AAPL | +9.5 |
| 7 | Accenture | ACN | +8.6 |
| 8 | Mastercard | MA | +8.2 |
| 9 | Microsoft | MSFT | +5.5 |
| 10 | IBM | IBM | +3.2 |
| 11 | Alphabet/Google | GOOGL | +2.3 |
| 12 | Merck | MRK | -0.5 |
| 13 | American Express | AXP | -1.4 |
| 14 | Costco | COST | -2.7 |
| 15 | UnitedHealth Group | UNH | -4.1 |
| 16 | Walt Disney | DIS | -6.8 |
| 17 | GE Aerospace | GE | -7.7 |
| 18 | Goldman Sachs | GS | -8.6 |
| 19 | NVIDIA | NVDA | -9.1 |
| 20 | Walmart | WMT | -9.1 |
| 21 | Ford | F | -9.5 |
| 22 | Amazon | AMZN | -10.0 |
| 23 | AbbVie | ABBV | -10.5 |
| 24 | Eli Lilly | LLY | -11.4 |
| 25 | Home Depot | HD | -11.4 |
| 26 | Nike | NKE | -11.4 |
| 27 | Caterpillar | CAT | -12.3 |
| 28 | AT&T | T | -13.2 |
| 29 | Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | -14.1 |
| 30 | Meta Platforms | META | -14.5 |
| 31 | Berkshire Hathaway | BRK-B | -14.5 |
| 32 | PepsiCo | PEP | -15.0 |
| 33 | Pfizer | PFE | -16.4 |
| 34 | Coca-Cola | KO | -18.2 |
| 35 | McDonald's | MCD | -18.2 |
| 36 | JPMorgan Chase | JPM | -18.6 |
| 37 | Procter & Gamble | PG | -19.1 |
| 38 | General Motors | GM | -19.5 |
| 39 | Boeing | BA | -20.9 |
| 40 | Exxon Mobil | XOM | -25.0 |
What This Tells Us About Index Investing
The S&P 500 is the most widely held equity index in the world. It is the default investment for millions of people through 401(k) plans, pension funds, and passive ETFs. When you buy an S&P 500 index fund, you are making a bet on the American economy.
What you may not realize is that you are also making an ethical bet. Our data shows that bet leans negative. Nearly three-quarters of the largest companies in the index score below zero on average ethical integrity. The index's weakest areas -- governance, supply chain ethics, and defence exposure -- are precisely the dimensions that are hardest to see from a standard financial statement.
This does not mean the S&P 500 is a bad investment in financial terms. It means that if ethical integrity matters to you, passive index investing may not align with your values as well as you assume.
The Gap Between ESG Ratings and Our Data
Many of the companies that score negatively in our analysis carry strong ESG ratings from traditional providers. JPMorgan, for example, receives favourable ESG scores from major rating agencies despite its -80 governance score in our data -- a score driven by documented regulatory penalties totalling billions.
This is because traditional ESG ratings rely heavily on corporate self-disclosures: sustainability reports, diversity statements, and environmental pledges. Our methodology uses adversarial data -- court filings, regulatory enforcement actions, investigative journalism -- that companies do not control.
The result is often a different picture. Not always worse. But different, and in ways that matter for investors who care about what companies do, not just what they say.
Learn more about how our scoring differs from traditional ESG -->
How We Score
Every score on Mashinii is built from independently verifiable sources. Companies cannot influence their scores through self-reporting or ESG disclosures. We score across 11 independent dimensions -- not a single blended rating. A company can score +60 on governance but -30 on weapons, and you see both numbers.
Scores range from -100 to +100. A score of 0 means insufficient independent evidence to assess in either direction. Every score is backed by cited sources.
Explore all 11 values we measure -->
Find Out Where Your Holdings Land
If you hold an S&P 500 index fund -- or any portfolio -- you can see exactly how every company in your holdings scores across all 11 ethical dimensions. The audit takes under 60 seconds.