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 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 develops the 100 Best Corporate Citizens ranking in partnership with Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ESG. Once 3BL 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 2024 methodology considers 223 ESG factors across seven pillars (Climate Change; Employees; Environment; Governance; Human Rights; Stakeholders and Society; and Overall Performance) and measures Russell 1,000 companies’ performance and transparency on key issues of corporate citizenship and sustainability.

For a list of individual factors and an explanation of year-over-year changes, please see our 2024 Methodology.

We welcome feedback on the methodology – please complete the contact form at the bottom of this website.

2024 Takeaways

HP is the No. 1 Corporate Citizen of 2024 with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Johnson & Johnson, Owens Corning and Ingersoll Rand rounding out the top five. 

Competition for top ranks is tighter than ever: The gap in overall weighted scores between the No. 1 and No. 100 ranks fell by nearly 4% compared to 2023. Only five companies — HP, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Johnson & Johnson, Owens Corning and PepsiCo — retained their place in the top 10, making way for new top-10 entrants Ingersoll Rand, VF Corp., Trane Technologies, Citigroup and Ford Motor Co.

Out of the 25 industries assessed, companies from 23 appeared in the top 100 (see FAQs for industry details).

Finally, VF Corp. was the only company 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.

• While the top two scorers — HP and Hewlett Packard Enterprise — represent the Technology and Hardware sector, only three peer companies from this industry placed within the top 100: Keysight Technologies (No. 16), Cisco Systems (No. 21) and Dell Technologies (No. 22). 
• As in 2023, Capital Goods, Food and Beverage, and Materials companies are the most heavily represented in this year’s ranking, collectively making up over 30% of the top 100 scorers. Top performers across these industries include Owens Corning (top scorer in Capital Goods and No. 4 overall), PepsiCo (No. 1 in Food and Beverage and No. 6 overall), and Ecolab (No. 1 in Materials and No. 14 overall). 
• Transportation and Media and Entertainment are the only sectors with no companies placing within the top 100 in 2024. 

Since 2009, only eight companies have made the ranking each year: Accenture, Cisco Systems, Colgate-Palmolive, General Mills, Intel, Microsoft, Pepsico and Weyerhaeuser. We applaud these firms for their consistency and commitment to the transparent disclosure of sustainability data and information.