The Most Sustainable Tech Companies in the World

The Global 100, a ranking of the most sustainable corporations in the world, was released last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

This annual ranking has been compiled by Corporate Knights Capital since 2005 and judges corporations on 12 metrics:

  • Energy productivity: How much revenue they make per unit of energy
  • Carbon productivity: How much revenue they make compared to greenhouse gas emissions
  • Water productivity: How much revenue they make compared to water use
  • Waste productivity: How much revenue they make compared to waste generated
  • Innovation capacity: Percentage of revenue invested in R&D
  • Tax paid as a percentage of EBITDA
  • Ratio of CEO pay to average worker pay
  • Pension fund status: A measure of whether corporate plans are underfunded
  • Safety performance: Number of fatalities and related incidents
  • Employee turnover
  • Leadership diversity: Gender diversity of the board of directors and senior management
  • Clean capitalism pay link: Whether and how executive compensation is tied to sustainability performance

The resulting score is a percentage, and the top company (Biogen) is rated 73.5%.

Here are some of the more famous tech companies on the list, and below is the full ranking:

#33. Nokia (Finland): 64%

most sustainable companies nokia

#45. Samsung (South Korea): 61.4%

Most sustainable companies Samsung

#51. LG (South Korea): 60.4%

Most sustainable companies LG

#56. Intel (US): 59.3%

Most sustainable companies Intel

#61. Adobe (US): 58.5%

Most sustainable companies Adobe

#69. Cisco Systems (US): 56.4%

Most sustainable companies Cisco

#73. Lenovo Group (China): 56.1%

Most sustainable companies Lenovo

And the full ranking:

  1. Biogen Idec (United States): 73.5%
  2. Allergan (United States): 72.8%
  3. Adidas (Germany): 72.6%
  4. Keppel Land (Singapore): 71.3%
  5. Kesko (Finland): 70.0%
  6. Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) (Germany): 69.2%
  7. Reckitt Benckiser Group (United Kingdom): 68.8%
  8. Centrica (United Kingdom): 68.5%
  9. Schneider Electric (France): 68.4%
  10. Danske Bank (Denmark): 68.4%
  11. Tim Hortons (Canada): 68.2%
  12. Outotec (Finland): 67.8%
  13. Novo Nordisk (Denmark): 67.6%
  14. L'Oreal (France): 66.8%
  15. BT Group (United Kingdom): 66.8%
  16. Marks & Spencer Group (United Kingdom): 66.6%
  17. Dassault Systemes (France): 66.6%
  18. Johnson & Johnson (United States): 66.2%
  19. Enagas (Spain): 66.0%
  20. Storebrand (Norway): 66.0%
  21. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (Australia): 65.8%
  22. Unilever (United Kingdom): 65.7%
  23. Atlas Copco (Sweden): 65.4%
  24. StarHub (Singapore): 65.3%
  25. Koninklijke Philips Electronics (Netherlands): 65.2%
  26. Coca-Cola Enterprises (United States): 65.2%
  27. Statoil (Norway): 65.2%
  28. Kone (Finland): 65.1%
  29. Teck Resources (Canada): 65.0%
  30. Galp Energia (Portugal): 64.5%
  31. Neste Oil (Finland): 64.4%
  32. Syngenta (Switzerland): 64.0%
  33. Nokia (Finland): 64.0%
  34. City Developments (Singapore): 63.7%
  35. Vivendi (France): 63.6%
  36. POSCO (South Korea): 63.4%
  37. TELUS (Canada): 62.9%
  38. Sigma-Aldrich (United States): 62.9%
  39. Henkel (Germany): 62.7%
  40. Electricite de France (France): 62.6%
  41. Westpac Banking (Australia): 62.2%
  42. Credit Agricole (France): 61.7%
  43. Novozymes (Denmark): 61.5%
  44. Natura Cosmeticos (Brazil): 61.5%
  45. Samsung Electronics (South Korea): 61.4%
  46. DNB (Norway): 61.4%
  47. Ecolab (United States) 61.2%
  48. Legrand (France): 60.8%
  49. General Mills (United States): 60.8%
  50. Eisai (Japan): 60.5%
  51. LG Electronics (South Korea): 60.4%
  52. Wolters Kluwer (Netherlands): 59.7%
  53. Agilent Technologies (United States): 59.5%
  54. Accenture (Ireland): 59.4%
  55. Siemens (Germany): 59.4%
  56. Intel (United States): 59.3%
  57. Bombardier (Canada): 59.2%
  58. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (Sweden): 58.7%
  59. British Sky Broadcasting Group (United Kingdom): 58.7%
  60. Daimler (Germany): 58.7%
  61. Adobe Systems (United States): 58.5%
  62. Shire (Ireland): 57.9%
  63. UCB (Belgium) 57.6%
  64. Enbridge (Canada): 57.6%
  65. Hess (United States): 57.2%
  66. Aeroports de Paris (France): 56.8%
  67. Sun Life Financial (Canada): 56.6%
  68. Pearson (United Kingdom): 56.4%
  69. Cisco Systems (United States): 56.4%
  70. Shinhan Financial Group (South Korea): 56.4%
  71. Johnson Controls (United States): 56.2%
  72. Colgate-Palmolive (United States): 56.2%
  73. Lenovo Group (China): 56.1%
  74. General Electric (United States): 56.1%
  75. H&M Hennes & Mauritz (Sweden): 56.0%
  76. The Toronto-Dominion Bank (Canada): 55.9%
  77. Campbell Soup (United States): 55.8%
  78. Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (Australia): 55.5%
  79. National Australia Bank (Australia): 54.5%
  80. BG Group (United Kingdom): 54.5%
  81. Renault (France): 54.2%
  82. BNP Paribas (France): 54.1%
  83. Varian Medical Systems (United States): 54.0%
  84. CapitaLand (Singapore): 53.9%
  85. Celestica (Canada): 53.9%
  86. Bank of Montreal (Canada): 53.7%
  87. Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Sweden): 53.2%
  88. London Stock Exchange Group (United Kingdom): 53.2%
  89. Baker Hughes (United States): 53.0%
  90. Encana (Canada): 53.0%
  91. Hang Seng Bank (Hong Kong SAR, China): 52.8%
  92. Sanofi (France): 52.5%
  93. Suncor Energy (Canada): 52.3%
  94. British Land (United Kingdom): 52.0%
  95. ASML Holding (Netherlands): 51.7%
  96. Electrocomponents (United Kingdom): 51.3%
  97. Prologis (United States): 50.5%
  98. Intact Financial (Canada): 50.3%
  99. EMC (United States): 49.9%
  100. Essilor International, Compagnie Générale d' Optique (France): 48.2%
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Written by:
Kira M. Newman is a Tech Cocktail writer interested in the harsh reality of entrepreneurship, work-life balance, and psychology. She is the founder of The Year of Happy and has been traveling around the world interviewing entrepreneurs in Asia, Europe, and North America since 2011. Follow her @kiramnewman or contact kira@tech.co.
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