Schneider Electric has taken top honours in an inaugural ranking by TIME and Statista on the 500 companies ‘doing best for Earth.’
The ‘rigorous’ four-step methodology ruled out companies involved in non-sustainable industries, such as fossil fuels or deforestation, before assessing on external sustainability ratings, availability and quality of sustainability reports, and the effectiveness of environmental and social KPIs (key performance indicators).
Schneider Electric finished on top with an overall score of 88.86 out of 100. The French energy management provider has received a climate score of ‘A’ from the CDP – formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project – for the past 12 years, as well as receiving a platinum rating from EcoVadis for the fourth consecutive year. The TIME score given to Schneider Electric mirrors that of S&P Global in its 2023 corporate sustainability assessment (88 out of 100).
Schneider Electric is committed to carbon neutral operations by 2025, and an end-to-end carbon neutral value chain by 2040. The company said it had outperformed its goals for 2023, citing 112 million tonnes of carbon emissions saved and avoided, as well as carbon emissions from its top 1,000 suppliers falling by 27%.
“We’ve positioned the company to be an impact company,” Peter Herweck, Schneider Electric CEO said on an earnings call in February. “Our people want to create impact with the clients, with society and also in respect to technology and innovation. I think we’re on a very good way in respect to transforming the company to an industrial tech, and with that, drive digitisation, electrification and sustainability.”
Japan’s NEC Corp took the silver medal in the TIME index with a score of 85.71. Italian luxury fashion brand Moncler was placed third, scoring 85.66, while Brambles, an Australia-headquartered provider of reusable pallets and containers, was fourth at 82.98.
Moncler has topped the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) for the past five years as industry leader of the textile, apparel and luxury goods sector, with notable achievements including recycling 100% of nylon scraps and 90% renewable electricity at corporate sites. Brambles has a similar record, retaining the DJSI leadership in commercial services and supplies. IT provider NEC, meanwhile, has been listed on the CDP A-list for four years in a row and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index three years in a row, as of 2022.
Schneider Electric appears at seventh position in the Corporate Knights 2024 Global 100 ranking of the world’s most sustainable companies, with Brambles in second.
You can see the full TIME and Statista list here.
Picture credit: Schneider Electric
