Corporate Knights Top 100 Sustainable Companies List
Corporate Knights is a business advisory company based in Toronto Ontario Canada. Since 2005 they have published a top 100 global sustainable company ranking list which has grown more popular over the years. Last month the new list (for which the judging starts each October 1st) was published. The USA took the top two spots and a total of twenty USA companies made the top 100 list. Twelve Canadian companies made the list with Tim Horton’s being the highest ranked at slot 11.
USA Companies in the Top 100
Rank / Company Name / Industry
1 Biogen Idec – Biotechnology
2 Allergan – Pharmaceuticals
18 Johnson & Johnson – Pharmaceuticals
26 Coca-Cola Enterprises – Beverages
38 Sigma-Aldrich – Chemicals
47 Ecolab – Chemicals
49 General Mills – Food Products
53 Agilent Technologies – Life Sciences Tools & Services
56 Intel – Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment
61 Adobe Systems – Software
65 Hess – Oil. Gas & Consumable Fuels
69 Cisco Systems – Communications Equipment
71 Johnson Controls – Auto Components
72 Colgate-Palmolive – Household Products
74 General Electric – Industrial Conglomerates
77 Campbell Soup – Food Products
83 Varian Medical Systems – Health Care Equipment & Supplies
89 Baker Hughes – Energy Equipment & Services
97 Prologis – Real Estate Investment Trusts
99 EMC – Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals
Canadian Companies in the Top 100
Rank / Company Name / Industry
11 Tim Hortons – Hotels Restaurants & Leisure
29 Teck Resources – Metals & Mining
37 TELUS – Diversified Telecommunication
57 Bombardier – Aerospace & Defense
64 Enbridge – Oil. Gas & Consumable Fuels
67 Sun Life Financial – Insurance
76 The Toronto-Dominion Bank – Banks
85 Celestica – Electronic Equip., Instruments
86 Bank of Montreal – Banks
90 Encana – Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels
The way companies are evaluated is a series of elimination phases and then rankings based on common key performance indicators in three main categories:
- Resource Management – Energy Productivity, Carbon Productivity, Water Productivity and Waste Productivity
- Financial Management – Innovation Capacity, Percentage Tax Paid, CEO to Average Employee Pay and Pension Fund Status
- Employee Management – Safety Performance, Employee Turnover and Leadership Diversity
Once the rankings are done it is a boon to the winners and they have the bragging rights for another year. In top spot this year is US biotechnology company Biogen Idec, and in second place is US Pharmaceutical giant, Allergen. The Canadian restaurant chain “Tim Horton’s” came in 11th in the rankings mainly due to its great score on recycling.
As each year goes by and the urgency of our global situation becomes more and more obvious – challenges and competitions like this are great ways to get companies thinking in terms of global sustainability – it helps foster a long term point of view for strategy makers. The more widespread this knowledge becomes, the more the public will start expecting all the companies they interact with to comply with the standards being developed and set by opinion makers like Corporate Knights. It is the difference between working for sustainability as opposed to working for profit only. Soon the profitability of a company will be inextricably linked to its ability to meet the criteria set by sustainability reviews. The list is mostly focused on the industries that impact the environment in their day to day operations but is open to all. For all companies that want to be relevant businesses in the future – their challenge is to find ways to contribute to the sustainability of our planet. Profit is no longer the only yardstick of success.
