Corporate Knights powers 2015 Newsweek Green Rankings

Newsweek, one of the leading American weekly news magazines, today rolled out the results of its 2015 Newsweek Green Rankings, created in partnership with Corporate Knights.

The Newsweek Green Rankings consist of the U.S. 500, which ranks the 500 largest publicly traded companies in the United States by market capitalization and the Global 500, which looks at the 500 largest publicly traded companies globally by market cap.

The top-ranked company on both lists is Biogen, a Massachusetts-based biotechnology firm originally founded in Switzerland. Biogen provides medicine to treat ailments such as hemophilia, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s. The company has made significant strides in recent years to make its operations more resource efficient.

California-based pharma company Allergan, meanwhile, finished second on the U.S. 500 and third on the Global 500, compared to first and second place respectively in 2014.  Widely recognized as a corporate environmental leader, Allergan began formulating an environmental strategy more than 20 years ago, with recent efforts focused on innovative waste management initiatives and energy efficiency projects. In March, Allergan was acquired by rival Actavis, creating a $23 billion diversified pharmaceutical giant with reach into 100 countries.

One of the more interesting trends supported by the 2015 results is the growing integration of a sustainability pay link into executive compensation. “More than half of the 1000 companies analyzed for this year’s ranking are now linking executive pay to sustainability targets,” explained Corporate Knights Capital lead analyst Michael Yow.

The Newsweek Green Rankings evaluate the world’s largest publicly traded companies using eight metrics that collectively provide a transparent measurement of overall corporate environmental performance.

Click here to access the complete list and methodology from Newsweek.