How Ethical Is the S&P 500? An Independent Analysis
Wells Fargo accumulated $894.8 million in regulatory penalties in three years. RTX (Raytheon) paid over $1.145 billion in fines and settlements in 2024 alone. Boeing incurred $739.1 million in ethics-related charges connected to the 737 MAX crashes.
These are not small or obscure companies. They sit inside the retirement accounts and index funds that hundreds of millions of people own. When you score them on independently documented conduct rather than profitability, the picture changes.
Mashinii scores over 6,000 public companies across 11 ethical dimensions using court filings, regulatory actions, investigative reports, and NGO findings. We scored 27 of the most prominent S&P 500 companies across every major sector. The results vary widely -- from companies with positive governance scores to companies with billions of dollars in documented violations.
For a look at how index fund top holdings specifically compare, see our index fund ethics analysis. For how ESG-labelled funds fare, see our ESG ETF holdings breakdown.
Which S&P 500 Sectors Score Highest on Ethics?
The sector a company operates in explains much of its integrity profile. Here is how the five sectors we analysed compare, based on the average score across all companies scored in each group.
| Sector | Companies Scored | Avg. Integrity | Avg. Workers | Avg. Climate | Avg. Peace |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Healthcare & Consumer | 6 | -5 | +10 | -22 | -17 |
| Financial Services | 5 | -14 | -10 | -10 | -36 |
| Big Tech | 7 | -13 | -6 | -23 | -53 |
| Energy | 3 | -17 | +10 | -63 | -30 |
| Defence & Aerospace | 5 | -24 | -10 | -22 | -68 |
Defence and aerospace carries the deepest negatives, concentrated on the No War, No Weapons dimension. Energy is worst on climate. Big Tech carries broad liabilities across data privacy, military involvement, and governance. Healthcare and consumer performs best in aggregate, though individual companies vary widely.
Defence and Aerospace: The Deepest Negative Scores
| Company | War & Weapons | Governance | Environment | Workers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northrop Grumman | -90 | 0 | -50 | 0 |
| Lockheed Martin | -70 | -20 | 0 | -30 |
| RTX (Raytheon) | -60 | -40 | -20 | +10 |
| Boeing | -60 | -40 | -40 | 0 |
| General Dynamics | -60 | -20 | 0 | 0 |
Northrop Grumman scores -90 on weapons involvement, with over 50% of revenue from direct arms contracts and a $15 million fine for 110 violations of the Arms Export Control Act, including unauthorised transfers of guidance system source code. The company also developed the HART biometric database, capable of storing data on over 500 million individuals.
RTX accumulated over $1.145 billion in fines in 2024 alone -- a $252 million criminal penalty for bribing a Qatari official and a $428 million civil settlement for defrauding the U.S. Department of Defense on Patriot missile contracts. Approximately 71% of total revenue came from defence contracts in 2023.
Boeing incurred $739.1 million in ethics-related charges in three years, including a $243.6 million fraud charge related to 737 MAX crashes. A seven-week strike by over 33,000 machinists in late 2024 highlighted ongoing worker disputes.
Big Tech: Broad Liabilities Across Multiple Dimensions
| Company | Integrity | Workers | Data & Tech | Climate | Peace |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salesforce | +40 | -20 | +30 | +10 | -50 |
| Apple | -20 | 0 | +10 | -40 | -30 |
| Microsoft | -20 | +30 | -40 | -30 | -50 |
| NVIDIA | +20 | +20 | -50 | -30 | -70 |
| Alphabet (Google) | -30 | -40 | -70 | -30 | -80 |
| Amazon | -50 | -50 | -50 | -30 | -40 |
| Meta | -60 | -30 | -70 | -10 | -50 |
These seven companies represent a significant share of the index by weight. Rather than repeat each company's full record -- much of which we cover in our index fund analysis -- here are the key differentiators:
Salesforce stands apart at +40 on Honest & Fair Business, backed by 16 consecutive years on Ethisphere's World's Most Ethical Companies list. It also scores +30 on Safe & Smart Tech, with dedicated AI ethics roles and published Trusted AI Principles.
Meta (-60 on governance) and Alphabet (-80 on peace) anchor the bottom of the tech sector. Meta carries billions in cumulative regulatory penalties. Alphabet removed its AI weapons pledge in February 2026. See each company's full profile: Meta | Alphabet.
Apple was fined over EUR 1.8 billion by the European Commission in 2024 for anti-competitive App Store practices. Its supply chain record includes zero instances of forced labour found in independent third-party assessments in 2023, with 893 audits across over 50 countries.
Energy: Worst on Climate, Mixed Elsewhere
ExxonMobil violated the Clean Air Act over 16,000 times at a single Texas facility and faces allegations of hiring hackers to target climate activists. Score: -50 on Planet-Friendly Business. See full ExxonMobil profile.
Schlumberger (SLB) scores -90 on No War, No Weapons, continuing to operate and expand in Russia during the ongoing conflict. It generated 6% of total revenue there in 2022 and was listed as an "international war sponsor" by Ukraine. On the positive side, SLB scores +30 on Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing, with over 750 suppliers undergoing human rights due diligence in 2024.
Constellation Energy scores -80 on climate, lacking SBTi-validated targets. However, the company generates nearly 90% of its output as carbon-free nuclear energy, avoiding 125 million metric tons of carbon emissions in 2023.
Financial Services: The Widest Variance
| Company | Integrity | Fair Money | Workers | Climate | Peace |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visa | +30 | 0 | +40 | -20 | -20 |
| JPMorgan Chase | -40 | 0 | 0 | -20 | 0 |
| Goldman Sachs | -50 | -40 | -60 | 0 | -80 |
| Wells Fargo | -70 | 0 | -20 | -30 | 0 |
| BlackRock | -40 | 0 | -10 | +20 | -80 |
Wells Fargo scores -70 on Honest & Fair Business, with $894.8 million in regulatory fines over three years, including a $500 million SEC penalty. The company remains under the Federal Reserve's 2018 asset cap for opening millions of unauthorised accounts and has since abandoned both its 2050 net-zero goal and 2030 interim targets.
Goldman Sachs scores -80 on peace, having invested $8.7 billion in cluster munition producers and $8.595 billion in nuclear weapon producers between 2015 and 2018. It settled a class-action for $215 million over systemic pay discrimination affecting approximately 2,800 female employees.
BlackRock scores -80 on weapons involvement through substantial investments in defence manufacturers, including companies involved in nuclear and controversial weapons. Its ESG funds hold 2.79% of portfolio value in military contractors. BlackRock is also identified as the world's largest investor in deforestation, with over $5 billion in agribusiness companies implicated in environmental abuses.
Visa provides a contrast at +40 on Safe & Smart Tech, having invested $12 billion in fraud prevention and blocking over $54 billion in attempted fraud in 2023.
Cisco Systems scores +60 on Fair Money & Economic Opportunity, providing 0% interest financing for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and supporting $69 million in 0% interest loans through Kiva.
The Best-Scoring S&P 500 Companies
Two dimensions show more positive scores across the index:
Fair Pay & Worker Respect. Visa (+40) maintains verified 1:1 pay equity and $154,909 median pay. UnitedHealth (+40) has verified pay equity across gender and race. Microsoft (+30) achieves global pay equity. NVIDIA (+20) has a 2.5% voluntary turnover rate and $301,233 median compensation.
Honest & Fair Business. Freeport-McMoRan leads at +60, ranked eighth in the S&P 500 for transparency. Estee Lauder at +50 has eight consecutive perfect Corporate Equality Index scores. Salesforce at +40 has been on Ethisphere's list for 16 straight years.
The Lowest-Scoring S&P 500 Companies
Three dimensions are consistently negative:
No War, No Weapons. Military contracting reaches well beyond dedicated defence firms. Alphabet removed its AI weapons pledge. Microsoft holds a $22 billion Army contract. Amazon provides cloud infrastructure to intelligence agencies. Goldman Sachs invested billions in cluster munition producers.
Planet-Friendly Business. Constellation Energy lacks SBTi-validated targets. Wells Fargo abandoned its net-zero goal. Among the companies we scored, Estee Lauder at +30 is the strongest performer.
Safe & Smart Tech. UnitedHealth's 190-million-person data breach. Alphabet tracking 136 million users through Incognito mode. ExxonMobil's alleged hacking of 500 climate activist email accounts. This dimension carries documented failures across sectors.
What This Means for Index Fund Investors
If you own an S&P 500 index fund, your capital is allocated to all of these companies, weighted by market capitalisation. The largest companies receive the most of your money.
Scale correlates with documented issues. A company with 200,000 employees across 50 countries accumulates more court filings and regulatory actions than a focused mid-cap. The six largest tech companies represent roughly 30% of the index and carry negative average scores on the majority of dimensions.
Positive outliers exist. Freeport-McMoRan at +60 on governance. Salesforce at +40. Visa at +40 on data ethics. Starbucks at +60 on animal welfare. Being in the S&P 500 does not require negative integrity scores -- but finding these companies requires looking beyond market capitalisation.
Healthcare and Consumer: Notable Profiles
UnitedHealth Group scores -80 on Safe & Smart Tech following the Change Healthcare ransomware attack in February 2024, which impacted approximately 190 million individuals. The breach was caused by absent multi-factor authentication. On the other hand, UnitedHealth scores +40 on Fair Pay & Worker Respect, with verified 1:1 pay equity.
Johnson & Johnson has incurred over $1 billion in regulatory penalties in three years, including a $700 million settlement for consumer protection violations related to talc product marketing. J&J scores +50 on Respect for Cultures & Communities, supporting over 100 grassroots organisations.
Costco maintains a $20 minimum hourly wage and a 7% employee turnover rate. It scores -40 on No War, No Weapons after allegations of importing products made with Uyghur forced labour.
Estee Lauder scores +50 on Honest & Fair Business and +30 on Planet-Friendly Business, having achieved carbon neutrality in Scope 1 and 2 emissions. A 2023 BBC documentary uncovered child labour on Egyptian jasmine farms in its supply chain.
Freeport-McMoRan scores +60 on governance and +50 on Respect for Cultures & Communities, supporting indigenous cultural preservation from Chile to Papua New Guinea. Its main liability is -60 on climate, with over $163 million in environment-related penalties since 2000.
Scoring methodology
Mashinii scores companies across 11 ethical dimensions using independently sourced evidence -- court records, regulatory actions, investigative reports, and NGO findings. Every score is backed by cited sources.
Learn more about our methodology
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