Visualizing the 100 most Sustainable companies of the World
A brief overview of the businesses who are at the forefront of shaping a sustainable future
Working towards the UN goal of sustainable economic development would require a concerted effort by both the public & private sectors along with the respective governments. While the governments may be somewhat lagging in implementing the ESG (environmental, social and governance) model of a sustainable future, companies & businesses are rising to the challenge.
Today’s infographic comes from the Corporate Knights Global 100 — which ranks the 100 most sustainable companies around the globe for the year 2020. Interestingly, these companies have not only embraced their social responsibility of making the world a better place, in doing so, their stocks have also outperformed the broader market on average.
Corporate sustainability was measured with the data available for all publicly-listed companies with at least $1 billion in gross revenue at the end of the 2018 financial year. Companies were analyzed on the following main key performance indicators (KPIs).
❶ Resource management — controlling pollution
❷ Financial management — R&D spending on innovation endeavors
❸ Employee management — Bringing equality with women in executive roles
❹ Clean revenue — Percentage of total revenue generation derived from clean & sustainable resources
Europe
Analyzing the global picture of top sustainable companies, the European continent is the front-runner of these sustainable endeavors with effective regulations. No wonder almost half (49) of the World’s most sustainable companies are based out of Europe.
France is the leading country with nine sustainable companies in the ranking, followed by Finland with six companies in the Top 100. Denmark’s Ørsted A/S lead the top 100 rankings — originally Danish Oil and Natural Gas (DONG) company has completely transformed into a purely renewable energy company, which aims to be carbon-neutral by 2025.
North America
29 of the top 100 sustainable companies call are housed in North America, with the U.S responsible for 17 of these while Canada provides the home base for the remaining 12. Canada was also the country contributing most to the 2020 ranking with 9 of the 28 new companies coming from the country.
Cisco Systems was the top sustainable company from the region, ranking №4 globally. Autodesk was at №5 rising 43 places since the previous years’ ranking — this massive feat attributed to it operating its cloud platforms using 99% renewable energy. Canada’s top company was Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. sitting at №10 of the top 100 rankings.
Asia
The Asian continent somewhat lags behind with only 16 companies in the Top 100. Japan was the clear leader here with 6 of these companies calling the island nation their home. However, the most sustainable companies here hailed from a wide variety of industries like Automotive, Computers, Banking & Pharmaceuticals.
Japanese plastics manufacturer Sekisui Chemicals was the top one in Asia, coming in at №12 globally after a massive improvement of 77 positions in just one year. The company builds environmentally-friendly housing, and 28% of its revenue aligns with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Rest of the World
Other regions of the World have a few notable mentions — 6 of the remaining Top 100. The most significant one is Brazil’s Banco do Brasil, which is a member of the Top 10 (№9). 4 out of the 6 most sustainable companies from other regions are banks. Interestingly more than half of the Top 100 sustainable companies are also banks.
Collectively, the Global 100 most sustainable companies have consistently outperformed the traditional companies consistently. The latter are all included in the MSCI ACWI (All Country World Index). Sustainable companies have posted an annualized return of 7.3% compared to 7.0% of the other companies between the time period of 2005–2019.