General Electric — Ethics Grade D+

General Electric receives an overall ethics grade of D+ (38/100) on CancelCo's corporate accountability database. Sector: Defense & Aerospace. Market cap: Large Cap.

Category scores

• labor: 42
• privacy: 65
• consumer: 45
• environment: 30
• humanRights: 55

Documented incidents (3)

• Hudson River PCB Contamination (high, 2017) — GE spent decades fighting liability for dumping 1.3 million pounds of PCBs into the Hudson River, leading to a massive, multi-year Superfund cleanup project.
• SEC Disclosure Fraud Settlement (high, 2020) — GE paid a massive penalty to settle charges that it misled investors by failing to disclose the true source of profits in its power and insurance businesses.
• Pension Freeze for 20,000 Workers (medium, 2019) — In a cost-cutting move, GE froze pension plans for approximately 20,000 U.S. employees to reduce its significant debt load, sparking employee backlash.

Documented good deeds

• Haliade-X Offshore Wind Development — Pioneered high-capacity offshore wind turbines to accelerate global transition to renewable energy.

Ethical alternatives

• Siemens Energy — More aggressive phase-out of coal-related technologies and better environmental reporting.