Leading the pack this year is the Belgian multinational materials technology group Umicore. Last year the Brussels-based firm ranked 8th, but thanks largely to its disclosure practices and resource productivity performance, it now holds the No. 1 spot.
“Umicore’s top placement was driven by the company’s strong across-the-board sustainability performance,” Morrow says. “Relative to its global peers in the materials industry group, the company squeezes more revenue out of each resource input (including energy and water), while generating less externalities (greenhouse gas emissions and waste).”
On the governance side, Umicore has a more equitable compensation structure than most of its peers, coupled with above-average health and safety performance and employee turnover, he adds.
“Umicore’s outstanding sustainability credentials are reflected in the company’s business model. They generate over half of their revenue by selling products that help other firms improve their sustainability performance, such as energy efficiency. They are effectively long on sustainability, which we think is ingenious.”