The habits of top ESG performers

The world’s 100 most sustainable companies pay an average of 27 per cent more in taxes, have three times as many top female executives, and generate six times more clean revenue than their global peers.

Analysis of Corporate Knights’ 2018 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations draws a direct line between the most sustainable companies and their longevity. The average age of the 2018 Global 100 companies is 85 years, while the average multinational has been around for less than 40 years.

There is also a link between value for society and superior financial performance, with the Global 100 Index outperforming the MSCI All Country World Index by nearly a third since its inception in 2005.

The Global 100 Index is drawn from a pool of 5994 publicly listed companies and assesses them on 17 environmental, social and governance indicators.

The top-ranked entity this year was Dassault Systèmes, the French multinational software company whose digital technologies assist companies and governments in reducing waste, adopting renewables and creating smarter cities. Dassault moved up from 11^th place in last year’s list due to strong female representation on its board (six of 11 directors), a relatively low ratio of chief executive-to-average worker pay ratio (30 to 1) and a strong financial contribution to society (it paid taxes equal to 26.5 per cent of EBITDA over the last five years). The company also draws a quarter of its revenue from products and services that preserve the environment.

To put part of this in perspective, JUST Capital in the US reports for Forbes that, among the 728 members of the Russell 1000 for which it has compensation data, the average chief executive’s pay is 204 times what the average worker makes.

The criteria Corporate Knights uses to assess the companies are: energy productivity; carbon productivity; water productivity; waste productivity; research and development revenue; cash/taxes paid ratio; chief executive/average worker pay ratio; pension fund status; injury rate; number of fatalities; employee turnover; women on board; women executives; link between executive compensation and ESG; clean revenue; and clean air productivity.

The 14^th– annual Global 100 was announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Here’s the list:

2018 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World

1. 1  Dassault Systèmes
2. 2  Neste
3. 3  Valeo
4. 4  Ucb
5. 5  Outotec
6. 6  Amundi
7. 7  Cisco Systems
8. 8  Autodesk
9. 9  Siemens
10. 10  Samsung SDI
11. 11  Aareal Bank
12. 12  Enbridge
13. 13  Merck
14. 14  Natura Cosméticos
15. 15  Pearson
16. 16  Amadeus IT Group
17. 17  Bayerische Motoren Werke
18. 18  Companhia Energetica de Minas Gerais
19. 19  Koninklijke Philips
20. 20  Allergan
21. 21  Honda Motor
22. 22  Sanofi
23. 23  McCormick
24. 24  Commonwealth Bank of Australia
25. 25  Vivendi
26. 26  Intel
27. 27  Itron
28. 28  Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
29. 29  Halma
30. 30  Deutsche Börse
31. 31  Kesko
32. 32  Télévision Française 1
33. 33  BioMérieux
34. 34  AstraZeneca
35. 35  Nokia
36. 36  BNP Paribas
37. 37  Eli Lilly
38. 38  Storebrand
39. 39  ABB
40. 40  Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget
41. 41  Intesa Sanpaolo
42. 42  Analog Devices
43. 43  Applied Materials
44. 44  Takeda Pharmaceutical
45. 45  Schneider Electric
46. 46  Shinhan Financial Group
47. 47  Kering
48. 48  Ingersoll-Rand
49. 49  Banco do Brasil
50. 50  Nestlé
51. 51  Legrand
52. 52  Engie Brasil Energia
53. 53  GlaxoSmithKline
54. 54  ING Groep
55. 55  Sekisui Chemical
56. 56  Acciona
57. 57  H & M Hennes & Mauritz
58. 58  Aberdeen Asset Management
59. 59  NVIDIA
60. 60  Daimler
61. 61  Diageo
62. 62  BT Group
63. 63  Singapore Telecommunications
64. 64  Novartis
65. 65  Sandvik
66. 66  Chr. Hansen
67. 67  Coca-Cola European Partners
68. 68  Nissan Motor
69. 69  Texas Instruments
70. 70  Ørsted
71. 71  Allianz
72. 72  Lenovo Group
73. 73  Telus
74. 74  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing
75. 75  MetLife
76. 76  Banco Santander Brasil
77. 77  HP
78. 78  Sun Life Financial
79. 79  Hewlett Packard Enterprise
80. 80  National Australia Bank
81. 81  General Electric
82. 82  Verbund
83. 83  AkzoNobel
84. 84  L’Oréal
85. 85  AXA
86. 86  Nordea Bank
87. 87  Orkla
88. 88  Wärtsilä
89. 89  Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
90. 90  Renault
91. 91  Syngenta
92. 92  Johnson & Johnson
93. 93  Posco
94. 94  Suez
95. 95  Umicore
96. 96  Vestas Wind Systems
97. 97  SSE
98. 98  CapitaLand
99. 99  Derwent London

• 100  City Developments