The rating of the 100 most sustainable world companies – compiled by Company Knights – exhibits France and Denmark main the EU leaderboard.
Schneider, {an electrical} gear agency primarily based in France, has been named the world’s most sustainable agency in keeping with a newly launched report from Company Knights.
The International 100 index, up to date yearly, ranks world companies primarily based on a mixture of sustainability and moral indicators.
Elements scrutinised embrace carbon emissions, water use and ranges of sustainable funding. Non-environmental indicators corresponding to employee pay and gender parity are additionally considered.
The checklist of 100 companies notably contains a number of French firms, together with Danish and German companies.
Outdoors of the EU, Australia dominates the highest 5 slots – with Sims waste administration and Brambles furnishings in place two and 4.
The rating is predicated on an evaluation of 8,359 firms with greater than $1bn (€970m) in revenues.
Larger sustainable revenues
As a gaggle, this yr’s International 100 invested 58% of their capital expenditures, analysis and improvement, and acquisitions in inexperienced themes in 2023, stated Company Knights.
That is virtually quadruple the 15% common given to sustainable investments by all different massive firms total.
Companies are labelled as massive if they’ve greater than $1bn in income.
A rise in sustainable funding is permitting firms to generate larger returns from these sources, added Company Knights.
“During the last 5 years for main world public firms, sustainable revenues are rising twice as quick as different revenues, they usually now characterize over $5 trillion of annual revenues for the biggest publicly traded firms that we monitor”, stated Toby Heaps, co-founder and CEO of Company Knights.
Trailing behind MSCI ACWI
Whereas companies are incomes extra income from sustainable sources, Company Knights famous that the previous couple of years offered challenges for International 100 companies.
Final yr, its 2025 choose of essentially the most sustainable firms delivered decrease funding returns in comparison with the MSCI ACWI index.
The International 100 had been monitoring greater whole returns than the benchmark since its inception in 2005.
The MSCI All Nation World Index (ACWI) is an index that tracks broad world equity-market efficiency.
In line with Wednesday’s report, three elements accounted for the decrease comparative returns, which Company Knights labelled as transient.
Firstly, the excessive rate of interest atmosphere made it costly for firms to borrow cash and develop.
Secondly, the International 100 contains fewer US companies than the MSCI ACWI index, which carried out nicely in 2024.
The index due to this fact receives no publicity to “Magnificent 7” shares like Nvidia and Meta.
The group of firms additionally excludes weapons shares, which posted sturdy returns in 2024.
Heaps famous that he expects International 100 shares to bounce again in 2025.
