A Canadian research firm, called Corporate Knights Inc., which ranks corporations based on their sustainability performance, has unveiled the top 100 sustainable companies of today. Its mission in providing this information is to empower markets to foster a better world. It considers itself ‘the voice for clean capitalism.’
There were many new names to do one proud this year, including Toyota (#92), Tesla (#74), and Google’s parent corporation, Alphabet (#62). However, the number one spot was not a newbie to the list. It went to Danish renewable energy company Ørsted, who held fourth place last year. But, it is the first energy company to take first place!
Ørsted is a role model of a company, having shifted from using fossil fuels to renewables in just the past decade. It now owns wind farms that supply power to more than 13 million people – but it plans to increase that number to 50 million people by 2030. Since 2006, the company reduced its carbon emissions by 83%. It intends to be carbon neutral by 2025 and is well on its way to accomplish that.
Henrik Poulsen, CEO of Ørsted, said:
We are immensely proud to rank top out of the 7,000 public-listed companies assessed. From our origins as a traditional fossil fuel-based energy company, we’ve transformed into one of the largest renewable energy companies in the world. It’s time to take real action to create a world that runs entirely on green energy.
How do the researchers of Corporate Knights determine the results? They assess each company individually using 21 key performance indicators. Factors such as energy productivity, waste generation, water use, carbon emissions, women in senior executive positions, and taxes paid are analyzed and rated.
Not only is it good for the environment to be a sustainable business, but it’s good for the company’s longevity as well. Analysis conducted by the firm with Thomson Reuters DataStream found that the 100 most sustainable companies have longer lifespans. The median age of a Global 100 company is 87 years, while other companies tend to last for about 63 years.
