France and Denmark have emerged as leaders in the EU sustainability rankings, with France’s Schneider Electric crowned the world’s most sustainable company, according to the 2025 Global 100 index released by Corporate Knights.
The annual ranking evaluates firms based on a mix of sustainability and ethical metrics, including carbon emissions, water use, sustainable investment, worker pay, and gender parity. This year’s list includes several French, Danish, and German companies, with Australia securing two of the top five spots—Sims Limited at second and Brambles Limited at fourth.
Corporate Knights assessed 8,359 companies with revenues exceeding $1 billion, finding that the Global 100 firms invested 58% of their capital expenditures, R&D, and acquisitions in green initiatives in 2023—nearly quadruple the 15% average of other large companies.
Toby Heaps, co-founder and CEO of Corporate Knights, explained:
“Over the last five years for major global public companies, sustainable revenues are growing twice as fast as other revenues, and they now represent over $5 trillion of annual revenues for the largest publicly traded companies that we track.”
While sustainable investments are driving long-term growth, the Global 100 companies faced challenges in 2024. The group’s returns fell short of the MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI) due to three key factors: rising interest rates, a smaller representation of US firms compared to the MSCI ACWI, and the exclusion of high-performing sectors such as weapons and “Magnificent 7” tech stocks like Nvidia and Meta.
Corporate Knights emphasized the transient nature of these challenges, expressing confidence that Global 100 companies will rebound in 2025.
