Recognizing Corporate ESG Leadership
The 100 Best Corporate Citizens ranking began as a way to assess the largest publicly traded companies in the United States based on fundamental environmental, social and governance (ESG) transparency.
Since its launch in 1999, the ranking has become increasingly competitive as companies strengthen their ESG disclosures and elevate their performance. At the same time, 3BL Media has continuously modernized its ranking methodology to keep pace with stakeholder expectations and the rapidly evolving ESG landscape.
The 100 Best Corporate Citizens ranking serves as a valuable benchmark for companies working to improve their ESG transparency and performance. As the global community embarks on a decisive new decade, our hope is that companies step up efforts to achieve the transformational targets laid out in the Paris Agreement and UN Sustainable Development Goals and address social and racial inequities exposed during the pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement.
Methodology
3BL Media develops the 100 Best Corporate Citizens ranking in partnership with Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ESG. Once 3BL Media establishes its methodology, ISS ESG researches relevant data and processes the ranking. All data and information considered for the ranking must be publicly available through corporate websites, financial filings, policies, reports and reputable third-party sources, including CDP, GRI and the U.S. EPA. Companies may verify data and information that was collected by ISS ESG at no cost.
The 2022 methodology considers 155 ESG factors across eight pillars (Climate Change; Employees; Environment; ESG Performance; Financial; Governance; Human Rights; Stakeholders and Society) and addresses key issues exposed throughout the previous year, including the response to the pandemic, Black Lives Matter movement and cyber security risks.
For a list of individual factors and an explanation of year over year changes, please see our 2022 Methodology.
We welcome feedback on the methodology – please complete the contact form at the bottom of this website.
2022 Takeaways
Owens Corning topped the ranking for the fourth consecutive year and is the first company to ever do so. Read our press release here.
Out of the 24 industries assessed, companies from 23 were in the top 100 (see FAQs for industry details). The Materials industry group had the most representation in this year’s ranking, with 11 companies placing within the top 100. The second most represented industry is Capital Goods, having placed eight companies in the ranking. No companies from either the Media & Entertainment industry made the top 100. In terms of highest performing industry, there are six companies in the top 100 from the Technology Hardware & Equipment sector, three of which are in the top five!
Twenty-one companies are new to the top 100 or returning after a hiatus (compared to 20 companies in 2021): Apple, Ford Motor Company, Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), Kimberly-Clarke, salesforce.com, International Flavors & Fragrances, Alcoa Corporation, Freeport-McMoRan, Illumina, International Paper Company, CSX Corporation, First Solar, NiSource, Yum! Brands, Applied Materials, Molson Coors, Hormel Foods, Humana, Starbucks, Berry Global Group, and Marriott International.
Since 2009, only 19 companies have made the ranking each year: 3M, Abbott, Accenture, Baxter, Bristol Myers-Squibb, Cisco, Colgate-Palmolive, Eaton, Gap, General Mills, Hess, IBM, Intel, Johnson Controls, Microsoft, Nike, PepsiCo, Weyerhaeuser, and Xerox.
Finally, there were five companies awarded a “Green Flag” bonus by our partners at InfluenceMap (https://influencemap.org/) for using their influence and lobbying efforts in support of Paris Climate Agreement-aligned policies. The companies are: PepsiCo, Apple, Microsoft, Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), and salesforce.com.