World's 100 Most Sustainable Corporations Deliver Better for Investors

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 21, 2020 /CNW/ - Corporate Knights released its 16^th annual ranking of the world's 100 most sustainable corporations in Davos today, after a rigorous assessment of 7,395 companies with more than US$1 billion in revenues. An analysis that compared the financial performance and corporate longevity of the Global 100 companies against the MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI) supports the mounting case that sustainable corporate performance is consistent with equal or better returns for investors and greater corporate longevity.

Appendix I: Net returns of the MSCI ACWI and the Corporate Knights Global 100 Index in USD as calculated respectively by Solactive and MSCI (from February 1, 2005, to December 31, 2019) (CNW Group/Corporate Knights Inc.)

According to the Toronto-based sustainable-business magazine and research company's latest data crunching, the world's most sustainable corporation in 2020 is the Danish renewable energy provider Ørsted. The company, which a decade ago produced 85% of its energy from fossil fuels and 15% from renewable energy, has reversed that proportion and has a target to "essentially become carbon neutral" by 2025.

"Running the company just for profit doesn't make sense, but running it just for a bigger purpose is also not sustainable in the long term. Doing good and doing well must go together," said Ørsted CEO Henrik Poulsen. Since Ørsted joined the stock market through the world's second-biggest initial public offering of 2016, the company's value has more than doubled to US$40 billion.

Last year's top-ranked company – Chr. Hansen, a Danish bioscience company that uses "good bacteria" to provide natural means for preserving food, protecting plants and reducing overreliance on antibiotics in livestock farming – ranked number two overall.

Third was another Nordic company, Finland's Neste, an oil refiner that is switching from refining crude oil to using cooking waste and other bio-based materials as a feedstock.

Fourth was U.S. technology conglomerate Cisco, which rose 10 places from 14th, thanks to more than $25 billion in clean revenues from products with environmental core attributes. American software group Autodesk, which came fifth, rose 43 places from its 2019 ranking, now that it uses 99% renewable energy to run its cloud platforms – platforms that help build green buildings, reduce materials in manufacturing life cycles and support better designs for the circular economy.

Analysis of the company age and financial performance of the 2020 Global 100 continues to demonstrate that top sustainability performers tend to last longer and perform better for investors than comparable companies. The average age of a Global 100 company is 83 years, while the average age of a company in the MSCI ACWI is 49 years.

Investment returns were compared using the "Global 100 Index," which is calculated by Solactive and available via Bloomberg and Refinitiv. Composed of Global 100–ranked companies, it is equally weighted and mirrors the sector composition of the MSCI ACWI on a percentage basis. From its inception on February 1, 2005, to December 31, 2019, the Global 100 Index made an annualized net investment return of 7.3% compared to 7.0% for the MSCI ACWI (see Appendix A below for long-term trend).

 "The Global 100 companies show that companies that put sustainability at their core outlast and outperform the competition," said Toby Heaps, CEO of Corporate Knights.

Global 100 companies also consistently outperform MSCI ACWI companies on CEO-to-average-worker-pay ratio, board gender diversity, paying their fair share of taxes, and on various other specific metrics that factor into the ranking.

Metric	Global 100	MSCI ACWI
CEO-to-average-worker-pay ratio	75:1	302:1
Carbon productivity (revenue-to-tonne-C02e ratio)	$384k	$174k
Clean revenues (from products or services with beneficial environmental or social impacts as % of total revenues)	37%	6%
% of women on boards	30%	24%
Executive pay linked to sustainability measures (% of companies having such a link)	63%	17%

Forty-nine of this year's Global 100 companies hail from Europe. The U.S. and Canada accounted for 29, while 18 companies in the ranking are from Asia. Latin America boasts just three members on the list, all from Brazil, and South Africa's Standard Bank was the only representative of the African continent.

The list includes 28 companies that were not on the Global 100 last year. BYD – China's biggest electric carmaker – is a new entrant, along with Hong Kong's Vitasoy, evidence that while the world's largest economy lags behind European and North American nations on key sustainability metrics, ESG (environmental, social, governance) issues are starting to gain traction where it will matter most.

For full rankings and methodology details, please see: corporateknights.com/global100

About Corporate Knights: Corporate Knights Inc. includes the sustainable-business magazine Corporate Knights and a research division that produces rankings and financial product ratings based on corporate sustainability performance.

About the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World: The Global 100 is an annual project initiated by Corporate Knights, the company for clean capitalism. Launched in 2005, the Global 100 is announced annually on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Appendix I: Net returns of the MSCI ACWI and the Corporate Knights Global 100 Index in USD as calculated respectively by Solactive and MSCI (from February 1, 2005, to December 31, 2019)

Appendix II: 2020 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World

Rank 2020	Full company name	Country	Peer Group
1	Orsted A/S	Denmark	Wholesale Power
2	Chr. Hansen Holding A/S	Denmark	Food and Other Chemical Agents
3	Neste Oyj	Finland	Petroleum Refineries
4	Cisco Systems Inc	United States	Communications Equipment
5	Autodesk Inc	United States	Software
6	Novozymes A/S	Denmark	Specialty and Performance Chemicals
7	ING Groep NV	Netherlands	Banks
8	Enel SpA	Italy	Wholesale Power
9	Banco do Brasil SA	Brazil	Banks
10	Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp	Canada	Electric Utilities
11	OSRAM Licht AG	Germany	Electrical Equipment and Power Systems
12	Sekisui Chemical Co Ltd	Japan	Other Materials
13	Storebrand ASA	Norway	Insurance
14	Umicore SA	Belgium	Primary Metals Products
15	Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co	United States	Computer Hardware
16	American Water	United States	Water Utilities
17	Iberdrola SA	Spain	Wholesale Power
18	Outotec Oyj	Finland	Machinery Manufacturing
19	CEMIG	Brazil	Electric Utilities
20	Accenture PLC	Ireland	Technology Consulting Services
21	Dassault Systèmes SE	France	Software
22	McCormick & Company	United States	Food and Beverage Production
23	Kering SA	France	Apparel and Accessory Products
24	UPM-Kymmene Oyj	Finland	Forestry and Paper Products
25	Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd	Taiwan	Semiconductor Equipment and Services
26	Prologis Inc	United States	Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)
27	Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M)	Sweden	Apparel and Accessories Retail
28	Sanofi SA	France	Biopharmaceuticals
29	Schneider Electric SE	France	Industrial Conglomerates
30	Natura Cosmeticos SA	Brazil	Personal Care and Cleaning Products
31	BNP Paribas SA	France	Banks
32	KONE Oyj	Finland	Machinery Manufacturing
33	Verbund AG	Austria	Wholesale Power
34	Valeo SA	France	Consumer Vehicles and Parts
35	ERG SpA	Italy	Wholesale Power
36	City Developments Ltd	Singapore	Real Estate Investment and Services
37	Vestas Wind Systems A/S	Denmark	Electrical Equipment and Power Systems
38	bioMérieux	France	Diagnostics and Drug Delivery Devices
39	Intesa Sanpaolo SpA	Italy	Banks
40	Koninklijke KPN NV	Netherlands	Wireless and Wireline Telecommunications Services
41	Siemens AG	Germany	Industrial Conglomerates
42	National Australia Bank Ltd	Australia	Banks
43	Shinhan Financial Group Co Ltd	South Korea	Banks
44	Bombardier Inc	Canada	Aerospace and Defence Manufacturing
45	Koninklijke DSM NV	Netherlands	Food and Other Chemical Agents
46	Unilever PLC	United Kingdom	Personal Care and Cleaning Products
47	Sims Metal Management Ltd	United States	Primary Metals Products
48	Bank of Montreal	Canada	Banks
49	Cascades Inc	Canada	Containers and Packaging
50	Advantech Co Ltd	Taiwan	Computer Hardware
51	Standard Bank Group Ltd	South Africa	Banks
52	Ericsson	Sweden	Communications Equipment
53	Danaher Corporation	United States	Medical Devices
54	Canadian National Railway Co	Canada	Cargo Transportation and Infrastructure
55	Adidas AG	Germany	Apparel and Accessory Products
56	AstraZeneca PLC	United Kingdom	Biopharmaceuticals
57	Stantec Inc	Canada	Facilities and Construction Services
58	HP Inc	United States	Computer Peripherals and Systems
59	Commerzbank AG	Germany	Banks
60	Sun Life Financial Inc	Canada	Insurance
61	ABB Ltd	Switzerland	Industrial Conglomerates
62	Alphabet Inc	United States	Internet and Data Services
63	CapitaLand Limited	Singapore	Real Estate Investment and Services
64	Pearson PLC	United Kingdom	Personal Professional Services
65	BT Group PLC	United Kingdom	Wireless and Wireline Telecommunications Services
66	Metso Oyj	Finland	Machinery Manufacturing
67	Comerica Incorporated	United States	Banks
68	Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd	Japan	Biopharmaceuticals
69	Assicurazioni Generali SpA	Italy	Insurance
70	Acciona SA	Spain	Facilities and Construction Services
71	Novo Nordisk A/S	Denmark	Biopharmaceuticals
72	Konica Minolta Inc	Japan	Computer Peripherals and Systems
73	Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB	Sweden	Banks
74	Tesla Inc	United States	Consumer Vehicles and Parts
75	Westpac Banking Corp	Australia	Banks
76	UCB SA	Belgium	Biopharmaceuticals
77	Workday Inc	United States	Software
78	Merck & Co Inc	United States	Biopharmaceuticals
79	GlaxoSmithKline PLC	United Kingdom	Biopharmaceuticals
80	Samsung SDI Co Ltd	South Korea	Electrical Equipment and Power Systems
81	Intel Corporation	United States	Semiconductor Manufacturing
82	Analog Devices Inc	United States	Semiconductor Manufacturing
83	IGM Financial Inc	Canada	Investment Services
84	Canadian Solar Inc	Canada	Electrical Equipment and Power Systems
85	BYD Co Ltd	China	Consumer Vehicles and Parts
86	Kao Corporation	Japan	Personal Care and Cleaning Products
87	BASF SE	Germany	Specialty and Performance Chemicals
88	Cogeco Communications Inc	Canada	Wireless and Wireline Telecommunications Services
89	Panasonic Corporation	Japan	Computer Hardware
90	Vitasoy International Holdings Ltd	Hong Kong	Food and Beverage Production
91	Teck Resources Limited	Canada	Metal Ore Mining
92	Toyota Motor Corporation	Japan	Consumer Vehicles and Parts
93	Campbell Soup Company	United States	Food and Beverage Production
94	Industria de Diseño Textil SA	Spain	Apparel and Accessories Retail
95	Singapore Telecommunications Limited	Singapore	Wireless and Wireline Telecommunications Services
96	Telus Corporation	Canada	Wireless and Wireline Telecommunications Services
97	Lenovo Group Ltd	China	Computer Peripherals and Systems
98	L'Oréal SA	France	Personal Care and Cleaning Products
99	Kesko Corporation	Finland	Food and Beverage Retail
100	Amundi SA	France	Investment Services

SOURCE Corporate Knights Inc.

Toby Heaps, CEO, Corporate Knights, Phone: ++ 41 791022437, Rmail: [email protected]

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