Posted with permission from ESG Impact Zone.

With Russia’s war in Ukraine driving energy prices up to record levels and the world experiencing unprecedented climate disasters, it has never been more important for companies to cut their emissions and double down on sustainability.

This year’s Global 100 ranking of the world’s most sustainable companies, now in its 19th year, reveals that the transition is gathering momentum – and that businesses that take sustainability seriously are flourishing financially.

While the Global 100 is light on oil and gas companies, whose profits have soared because of rising energy prices (Finland’s Neste being the only oil company on the ranking), it still managed to outperform its blue-chip benchmark, MSCI ACWI (All Country World Index), and other ESG indices. While both the Global 100 and ACWI fell somewhat in 2022, since its inception on February 1, 2005, the Global 100 Index has generated a total investment return of 270.7% compared to 222.1% for ACWI.

Ralph Torrie, Corporate Knights’ research director, says rising oil prices have stimulated growth in renewables, smart buildings, electric vehicles and other climate solutions, including circular economy measures. Indeed, the top-ranked company, Schnitzer Steel, is a metals recycler. “Global 100 companies are providing the products and services that are needed for the sustainability transition and that will form the basis of the emerging 21st-century economy,” says Torrie. “They’ve outperformed the market through these last few tumultuous years.

Read the original article and download full results.