Recycler Sims tops global sustainability list

Sims Group has been announced as the world’s most sustainable company in the latest Corporate Knights Global 100 rankings.

Now in its 20th year, the Canadian listing initiative assesses corporate investments in green solutions such as renewable energy, energy efficiency and the circular economy. Sims is the only business in the top 12 operating within the recycling sector. Last year’s number one, Radius – formerly Schnitzer Steel – is down to 36^th place.

This year, according to Corporate Knights’ researchers, the 100 top-ranked firms allocated 55% of their investments to sustainable projects, up from 47% the year before. They earned 51% of their revenues from sustainable sources in the fiscal year 2022, up from 50% a year earlier. That compares with just 16% for the broader universe of companies.

‘Quaint idea‘

‘When we launched the Global 100 in 2005, the green economy was a quaint idea,’ says Corporate Knights co-founder and ceo Toby Heaps. ‘Many companies didn’t publish in-house sustainability reports, there were no standardised key performance indicators and none of the companies was reporting the percentage of their revenue or investments that were green.

‘Now we can measure this green business exposure for the majority of companies and are able to count annual green investments that run into the trillions, growing six times faster than the economy at large.’

‘Sustainable investment data identifies those companies that are going to be poised to succeed in the transition to a low-carbon economy,’ adds research manager Matthew Malinsky. ‘We can see which of these companies are going all in on sustainable investment and have watched the ratio grow for some of these companies from 20, to 30, to 50% over a three-year period.’