The list, which was published in the Southern Weekly yesterday, also identifies 2,600 Chinese companies that have fallen foul of authorities. The multinationals include Nestle Sources Shanghai Ltd, whose parent is Switzerland’s Nestle AG, the world’s biggest food and drink company.

The drinking water company was found to have started up production in Shanghai in May last year before its environmental protection facilities had been cleared by officials. Pepsico, which ranks 104 on this year’s Forbes 2000 list, was accused of discharging waste water containing illegal levels of pollutants at a plant in Changchun, in Jilin Province, according to the list. Panasonic and 3M are the other two top-500 companies on the list.

The blacklist was given to the Southern Weekly by Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, a Chinese non-governmental organization. The newspaper said Ma collated it from local government reports he requested for his institute’s forthcoming Website. Some of the lists had never been released to the public before, the newspaper said, citing Ma. Ma said despite the names on his list, foreign companies did a better job on environmental protection than domestic ones. But Greenpeace China Campaign director Lu Sicheng said that did not mean multinationals in China could lower the environmental standards they adhere to overseas.