The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) was named the best performing industrial company in the 2009 Global Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index, which ranks corporations for transparency around reporting climate-change risks and actions to improve environmental performance.

The index is produced by the Carbon Disclosure Project, an investor-funded nonprofit organization that produces the most comprehensive survey of global corporate carbon emissions. The report also noted Boeing’s focus on providing energy-efficient products and services and lean manufacturing techniques.

Companies recognized in the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index recognize how understanding and managing carbon emissions will continue to impact their business, according to Paul Dickinson, chief executive of the Carbon Disclosure Project. “Companies which control their risks today, manage their emissions and seize the opportunities to produce low carbon goods and services, will be the best placed to prosper in a low carbon economy of the future.”

Compiled for the Carbon Disclosure Project by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the CDLI index provides a tool for institutional investors to evaluate how companies listed on the Financial Times Stock Exchange Global 500 are addressing the issue of climate change. The index is compiled for some 475 institutional investors with combined assets under management in excess of $55 trillion and evaluates the performance of some 2,500 companies around the globe.

Boeing has set aggressive environmental performance targets. By 2012 at its major manufacturing facilities, Boeing is targeting 25 percent improvement goals for solid waste recycling rates, energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions intensity, and a comparable goal for hazardous waste reduction.