UK companies have come third in a list of the top 100 sustainable companies worldwide.
While the US has 18 firms in the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations, and Canada had 13 spots, the UK and France were tied in third with eight spots each.
Measured on 12 key performance indicators that includes waste productivity, energy productivity, carbon productivity and water productivity, the list is compiled by Canadian media and investment advisory company Corporate Knights.
The top ranking UK company was Sage Group at 16 followed by Centrica at 26, and Croda International at 28. These were followed by Electrocomponents (63), BG Group (71), London Stock Exchange (81), British Sky Broadcasting (85) and Unilever (93).
Westpac Banking Corporation from Australia was the top ranked company, followed by Biogen Idec from the United States and Finnish company Outotec completing the top three.
The 100 companies on the index have delivered a total return of 91.01 per cent compared to 87.80 per cent for its benchmark, the MSCI All Country World Index.
Corporate Knights chief executive Toy Heaps pointed out that the out-performance of 3.21 per cent of companies on the index shows the investment benefits of sustainability.
He added: “The results speak for themselves. Topping a well-diversified benchmark is not easy, but the Global 100 has managed to squeak out marginal out-performance across a turbulent period in the history of the capital markets.
“We attribute this excess return to the growing investment relevance of core sustainability themes, including water scarcity, rising energy prices and growing competition for human capital, all of which are captured in the Global 100 methodology.”
