The Climate Counts score, which ranges from 0 to 100, is based off of 22 criteria in four categories: review, reduce, policy stance and report.

FORBES: New Report Says Nike Ranks No. 1 In Combating Climate Change

Back in January, General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz told Forbes a 2010 IPO was a possibility, but only after a laundry list of criteria were checked off, including turning a profit, generating solid cash flow and having a compelling story to tell investors.

FORBES: GM: To Bankruptcy And Back Again

Now the agencies are revising their rating criteria in a bid to head off tougher regulation.

ECONOMIST: Securitisation

One insider thinks this unlikely: many parents have remortgaged to pay fees, and with house prices shaky and banks tightening their lending criteria, this route is fast closing off.

ECONOMIST: Private education

Having put health at the very top of its domestic concerns, which Labour know tend to be the only ones that count when it comes to winning elections, the prime minister almost certainly has a further, unspoken criteria: will he be able to see off the opposition of the trade unions and concerns from his own side?

BBC: Health battle on the home front

It seems very likely that allowing the principals to choose which teachers to lay off will most likely result in a better teaching staff than a layoff strategy based entirely on a criteria with no relation to performance.

FORBES: Are Unions Anti-Competitive?