The most sustainable companies in the world - Which countries are hospitable to them?
Schneider, a French-based electrical equipment firm, has been named the world's most sustainable company, according to a newly released report by Corporate Knights. The Global 100 Index, updated annually, ranks global firms based on a mix of sustainability and ethics indicators.
Factors considered include carbon emissions, water use and levels of sustainable investment. Non-environmental indicators such as worker pay and gender equality are also taken into account. The list of 100 firms notably includes several French companies, along with Danish and German firms.
Outside the EU, Australia dominates the top five with waste management Sims and furniture Brambles in positions two and four. The ranking is based on an assessment of 8,359 companies with more than $1 billion (€970 million) in revenue.
As a group, this year's Global 100 invested 58% of their capital expenditures, research and development, and acquisitions in green topics by 2023, Corporate Knights said. That's nearly four times the average of 15% given to sustainable investments by all other large companies overall.
Corporations are labeled large if they have more than $1 billion in revenue. A rise in sustainable investments is allowing companies to generate greater returns from these sources, Corporate Knights added.
"Over the past five years for leading global public companies, sustainable revenue has been growing twice as fast as other revenue and now represents over $5 trillion in annual revenue for the largest publicly traded companies we track," said Toby Heaps, co-founder and CEO of Corporate Knights.
As businesses are earning more revenue from sustainable sources, Corporate Knights noted that previous years have presented challenges for the Global 100 firms. Last year, its 2025 selection of the most sustainable corporations delivered lower investment returns compared to the MSCI ACWI index.
The Global 100 had been tracking higher total returns than the benchmark since its inception in 2005. The MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI) is an index that tracks the broad performance of the global stock market.
According to Wednesday's report, three factors account for the lower comparative returns, which Corporate Knights labeled as transitory. First, the high-interest rate environment made it expensive for companies to borrow money and grow it.
Second, the Global 100 includes fewer US firms than the MSCI ACWI index, which performed well in 2024. Therefore, the index is not exposed to "Magnificent 7" stocks like Nvidia and Meta.
The group of companies also excludes weapons stocks, which had strong returns in 2024. Heaps noted that he expects Global 100 stocks to rebound in 2025.
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