Top 100 Sustainable Companies
28 February 2005 at 12:02 pm
A new global business ranking – called the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World – was unveiled at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland identifying the top 100 companies that are leading the way to a more sustainable world.
Among the winners is U.K.-based BP PLC, the world’s second largest oil and gas company, which owns a cutting edge solar power business and is introducing lower-emissions fuels such as natural gas at its retail outlets. BP has also invested in renewable energy technology (fuel cells, wind energy, and photovoltaic) and entered cross-industry R&D sustainability partnerships.
Another winner is Japan’s Toyota Motor, one of the world’s leading auto makers, recognised for developing and successfully commercialising the marquee environmental technology of the decade for the auto industry: the hybrid-drive vehicle. Toyota’s hybrid Prius model was the fasting selling car in the United States in 2004.
U.S.-based Alcoa also made the list. As the world’s leading primary aluminium producer, Alcoa is on track to reaping $100-million worth of environmental and energy cost-savings. The company is also poised to benefit from the auto industry’s adoption of aluminium, with its strength-to-weight ratio that helps create fuel efficient vehicles that produce lower tailpipe emissions.
The ‘Top 100’ companies emerged from a pool of over 2,000 firms, representing such large global indices as the S&P 500, MSCI World, FTSE 350 and Eurostoxx. Companies were selected on their ability to manage strategic opportunities in new environmental and social markets.
Companies were rated on such criteria as strategic governance, environmental initiatives, and human capital/labour relations practices. Research and analysis was conducted by Innovest, a leading environmental investment advisory firm with offices in New York, London and Toronto.
Only one Australian company, metals and mining group Alumina Limited, made it into the top 100 list.
For a full list of companies by country go to www.global100.org.
