“The Clean200 follows revenues, not rhetoric,” Toby Heaps, CEO of Corporate Knights and report co-author, said in a statement. “Even when politics turns hostile, markets continue to reward companies that are supplying what the global economy is structurally demanding – clean power, electrification, efficiency, and resilient infrastructure.”

For the 200 companies that made this year’s list, revenue from sustainable activities reached a record high of US$2.8 trillion, up 12% from last year and 710% from 2017. On average, more than half the revenue (53.7%) at Clean200 companies is sustainable – roughly 15 percentage points higher than five years ago – whereas companies in the MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI) generate only 16.7% of their revenue from sustainable activities.

“In 2016, we created the Clean200 in response to investors who asked, ‘As we shift away from fossil fuels, what should we invest in?’” Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow and report co-author, said in a statement. “A decade later, the Clean200 continues to demonstrate that the global economy is increasingly driven by companies delivering solutions that reduce dependence on fossil fuels and resource-intensive systems.”

Over the past decade, investors in Clean200 companies beat the benchmark by a wide margin. From July 1, 2016, to January 26, 2026, the Clean200 portfolio returned 282.9%, compared with 221.3% for the MSCI ACWI. The fossil fuel benchmark, meanwhile, returned a much slimmer 111%. In other words, the Clean200 produced about 2.5 times the gain of the fossil fuel benchmark.

The Clean200 is selected from 8,229 eligible companies, of which 103 were excluded. The list employs a wide range of negative screens to exclude: for example, fossil-fired utilities or big banks and insurers financing fossil fuel companies, as well as for-profit prisons, weapons makers and others.

Looking back five years, the Clean200 demonstrates the increasing economic weight of all-in sustainability firms known as “pure plays,” such as electric-vehicle makers and renewable-power generators. Since 2021, the share of pure-play sustainability companies – those for whom more than 99% of revenues are sustainable – has increased by 175%, from eight to 22. Near pure-plays, or those with greater than a 90% ratio, increased 216.7%, from 12 to 38. And those with more than 80% sustainable revenue also increased dramatically, from 22 to 49.

The United States and China have 69 companies on the list between them, 41 and 28 respectively. Five years ago, the United States had 46 companies on the list, and China had 17, which suggests a subtle but marked rebalancing trend. About half the list consists of “middle power” countries: Japan (15), France (12), Canada (11), Germany (11), Spain (8), Brazil (8), South Korea (7), Denmark (7), United Kingdom (5), Sweden (5) and India (5). Sixteen other countries share the remaining 14.5% of the list, underscoring how widely distributed the clean‑economy opportunity has become.

The post Clean200 companies hit $2.8 trillion in sustainable revenues appeared first on Corporate Knights.

California-based shareholder advocates As You Sow and Corporate Knights today released the new cohort of the Carbon Clean200, a global list of 200 publicly traded companies leading the sustainable clean energy economy.

From China to France, the United Kingdom to the United States, this crop of industry-leading companies generated $2.5 trillion in revenue from services and products that reduce demand for fossil fuels and water while offering investors more than double the returns of the fossil-fuel-heavy MSCI ACWI Energy Index. They also beat the global benchmark MSCI ACWI by 30% from July 1, 2016, to January 29, 2025.

Clean200 data show that for the large companies that make up 80% of global market capitalization, sustainable revenues and capital expenditures are growing more than twice as fast as all other revenues over the past five years.

This trend holds across sectors and regions and puts sustainable companies on a path to dominate the global economy by the end of the next decade, despite political attacks. (All figures in PPP, purchasing power parity, which is based on the rate at which the currency of one country is converted into that of another country to buy the same amount of goods and services in each country.)

Key findings include:

• The top 10 companies on the list by revenue include Apple, Contemporary Amperex Technology, Microsoft, Tesla, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Volkswagen.
• Thirty-five countries are represented in the Clean200, including the United States (41), China (21), Japan (18), Germany (14), and France and Canada (11 each).
• Clean200 companies earned more than $2.5 trillion in sustainable revenue in 2023 (the most recent year for which full-year results are available).
• Clean200 companies generated a total return of 190.9% on a sustainable-revenue-weighted basis, outperforming the MSCI ACWI index (162.0%) and the MSCI ACWI/Energy Index of fossil fuel companies (76.7%) on Total Return Gross – USD Basis from the Clean200 inception of July 1, 2016, to January 29, 2025.
• $10,000 invested in the Clean200 on July 1, 2016, would have grown to $29,090 by January 29, 2025, versus $17,670 for the MSCI ACWI/Energy benchmark for fossil fuel.
• The industrial sector accounts for 52 companies on the list, followed by information technology (32), and consumer discretionary and materials (29 each). IT companies had the highest total sustainable revenue, a cumulative total of more than US$687 billion.

The 10 companies that contributed the most to the Clean200’s performance over the past year were from China (3), the United States (2), France (2), Taiwan (1), Germany (1) and the United Kingdom (1). They include sustainably certified tech hardware, electric vehicles and electric rail equipment.

“In 2016, we created the Clean200 in response to investors saying, ‘If we divest fossil fuels, there is nothing to invest in,’” says Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow and co-author of the Carbon Clean 200 report that accompanies the ranking. “The Clean200 has consistently demonstrated that the ‘clean energy’ future of eight years ago is now the clean energy present. This year, the scale and global diversity of leading companies continue to expand and redefine the term ‘cleantech’ to be any company with products and services that will reduce demand for fossil fuels and water.”

“It is telling that clean energy stocks generated more than double the returns of fossil fuel stocks since 2016, despite political headwinds, underlining that stock markets care more about economic materiality of the parabolic growth in clean energy than the political leanings of the day,” says Toby Heaps, CEO of Corporate Knights and co-author of the report.

The Clean200 utilizes the Corporate Knights Sustainable Revenue database, which tracks the percentage of revenue companies earn from sustainable economy themes ranging from green power to electric vehicles to plant protein and smart buildings.

The list excludes companies that are flagged on Corporate Knights’ list of “red flag” companies and As You Sow’s Invest Your Values suite of mutual-fund transparency tools that identify companies involved in fossil fuels, deforestation, the prison industrial complex, weapons and tobacco, as well as the exclusionary screens that form part of the Corporate Knights Global 100 methodology.

“We will continue to track and share the emergence of the clean energy economic powerhouse,” Behar says. “There is clear financial evidence showing a broad spectrum of companies defining this economic transformation away from an extractive economy and into a regenerative economy based on justice and sustainability. The job growth and resilience demonstrated by these companies are our greatest hope in controlling climate change and achieving a safe, just and sustainable world that benefits all.”

Methodology

The Clean200 are the largest 200 public companies ranked by clean revenue. The ranking was first calculated on July 1, 2016, and publicly released on August 15, 2016, by Corporate Knights and As You Sow. The current list has been updated with data through January 29, 2025.

The Clean200 companies are ranked by their clean revenues in U.S. dollars. The data set is developed through assessment of a company’s revenue that aligns with the definitions laid out in the Corporate Knights Sustainable Economy Taxonomy, primarily sourced from Corporate Knights research. To be eligible, a company must earn more than 10% of total revenues from clean sources.

The Clean200 uses negative screens. It excludes carbon laggards in the cement industry, oil and gas companies and those found on the Global Oil & Gas Exit List, coal companies found on the Global Coal Exit List, all utilities that generate less than 50% of their power from green sources, the top 200 carbon reserve owners in the Carbon Underground 200 list, fossil-fuel financers found on the Banking for Climate Chaos list, fossil-fuel insurers found on the Insure Our Future list, companies involved in for-profit prison operations recommended for divestment by the Investigate project of the American Friends Service Committee, companies involved in severe environmental or human rights violation, and those which were involved in illegal activities where the ratio of fines, penalties or settlements over revenue for the most recent twelve months period exceeded 1.0%. In addition, the Clean200 excludes weapons companies, including major military arms manufacturers found on the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Top 100 arms-producing and military services list, as well as cluster munitions, nuclear weapons, and civilian firearm manufacturers screened on As You Sow’s Weapon Free Funds. The Clean200 also excludes palm oil, paper/pulp, rubber, timber, cattle, and soy producers that are screened on As You Sow’s Deforestation Free Funds; companies that use child or forced labor, are involved in the manufacture of harmful pesticides, and that engage in negative climate lobbying are not included.

The post Clean200 list shows sustainable companies on path to dominate global economy appeared first on Corporate Knights.

You follow the money, of course. With the right financial data, the clean economy comes in clear – and the numbers show that it’s developing momentum.

Released by Corporate Knights and California-based shareholder advocates As You Sow on February 15, the 11th Clean200 ranking captures the green transition in full flight, cataloguing those public companies that are earning the most from sustainable sources. Crucially, it also signals to investors – venture capitalists, institutions and individuals alike – that a wide range of companies are capitalizing on new-economy principles without sacrificing annual returns or opportunities for growth.

Between July 1, 2016, and January 15, 2024, Clean200 companies generated a total return of 103.5%. Although they underperformed the MSCI ACWI broad market index, which grew 114.4%, the Clean200 trounced the key index of global fossil fuel companies (the MSCI ACWI/Energy Index), which gained only 64.5% through those years.

And that’s the big deal, says As You Sow CEO Andrew Behar, who co-authored the 2024 study. “In 2016, we created the Clean200 in response to investors saying, ‘If we divest fossil fuels, there is nothing to invest in.’” Eight years later, the message is clear: “Investors who are not tilting their portfolios toward a clean future do so at their own peril.”

Companies from 35 countries made the list this year. In first place again is Apple, with sustainable revenues of US$275 billion – representing 70% of the computer maker’s total revenues of $394 billion. Other blue-chip names on the list include Tesla (number three), HP (five), Microsoft (six), Daimler (12), BMW (16), Nissan (36), Nike (50), Swatch (157) and even the iconic U.S. Steel (177) – which recently committed to being zero-carbon by 2050.

“Our mission is to shine a light on the heroes of the battle against climate change,” notes report co-author Toby Heaps, CEO of Corporate Knights. “The 2024 Clean200 proves there are true sustainability champions out there. The key is to rigorously apply a scientifically inspired method to identify these gems.”

In total, Clean200 companies earned more than $2.2 trillion in sustainable revenue in 2022, deriving on average 54.7% of their revenues from sustainable business activities, versus 13.6% for their MSCI ACWI peers. Researchers calculated company revenues using the Corporate Knights Sustainable Revenue database, which identifies the percentage of sales firms earn from sustainable economy themes such as renewable power, electric vehicles, plant protein and smart buildings. The ranking excludes firms involved in industries such as fossil fuels, deforestation, prisons, weapons and tobacco – as well as companies that engage in blocking climate policies.

Leading the pack is the U.S., with 39 companies making the list this year. Other blooming centres of corporate sustainability are China (23), Japan (18) and France (13), followed by Brazil, Canada and Germany with 10 companies each.

The Canadian firms on the list span an intriguing range of industries: engineering giants WSP Global (113) and Stantec (181), environmental service firms GFL Environmental (122) and Waste Connections (151), telecoms BCE (127) and Telus (144), transportation titan Canadian National Railway (114), electronics manufacturer Celestica (141), packaging producer Cascades (168) and Ontario utility Hydro One (198).

More evidence that the future belongs to anyone who will put in the work.

METHODOLOGY

The Clean200 are the largest 200 public companies ranked by clean revenue. The ranking was first calculated on July 1, 2016, and publicly released on August 15, 2016, by Corporate Knights and As You Sow. The current list has been updated with data through January 15, 2024.

The Clean200 companies are ranked by their clean revenues in U.S. dollars. The data set is developed through assessment of a company’s revenue that aligns with the definitions laid out in the Corporate Knights Sustainable Economy Taxonomy, sourced from Corporate Knights research. To be eligible, a company must earn more than 10% of total revenues from clean sources.

The Clean200 uses negative screens. It excludes all oil and gas companies, all utilities that generate less than 50% of their power from green sources, the top 100 coal companies as measured by reserves, the top 100 oil and gas companies as measured by reserves, as well as all fossil fuel companies, majority fossil-fired utilities, pipeline and oil-field-services companies, and other fossil-fuel-related companies screened on As You Sow’s Fossil Free Funds. In addition, the Clean200 excludes weapons companies, including major military arms manufacturers found on the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s top 100 arms-producing and military-services list, as well as cluster munitions, nuclear weapons and civilian firearm manufacturers screened on As You Sow’s Weapon Free Funds. The Clean200 also excludes palm oil, paper/pulp, rubber, timber, cattle and soy producers that are screened on As You Sow’s Deforestation Free Funds; companies that use child or forced labour, are involved in the manufacture of harmful pesticides and that engage in negative climate lobbying are not included. The full list of exclusionary screens is provided below.

The post List of Clean 200 companies captures the green transition in full flight appeared first on Corporate Knights.

It also happened to be the same year Corporate Knights and As You Sow launched the Clean200 – a list of publicly traded companies worldwide that are leading the clean energy charge. Things have changed quite a bit since then as investors have poured a growing amount of money into the energy transition and green companies have thrived. If an investor had put $10,000 into the Clean200 in July 2016, that investment would have grown to $19,121 by the end of January 2023. 

“The Clean200 has demonstrated consistently that what we called the ‘clean energy’ future seven years ago is now the clean energy present,” says Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow. “This year, the scale and global diversity of leading companies continue to expand and redefine the term ‘cleantech’ to be any company that has products and services that will reduce demand for fossil fuels and water.” 

The Clean200 lists the 200 major corporate players from 35 countries around the world that are at the forefront of the energy transition and put sustainability at the heart of their products, services, business models and investments, helping to move the world onto a more sustainable trajectory. On average, 58.3% of revenues earned by Clean200 companies are classified as sustainable, representing close to $2.4 trillion (all figures in U.S. dollars) in revenue, roughly unchanged from last year and significantly above the 5% average sustainable revenue for their MSCI ACWI peers.  

The United States dominated the 2023 list, with 42 companies on the Clean200, while China had the second-largest share with 21, followed by Japan, which is headquarters to 16 Clean200 companies. U.S. companies had, on average, the highest sustainable revenue at $23 billion. This is followed by Germany with $18 billion and South Korea at $17 billion. 

There are 90 new companies on the list this year, and some of those companies cracked the top 10, including Deutsche Telekom (in third place), Verizon Communications (fourth), Agricultural Bank of China (sixth) and Contemporary Amperex Technology (10th). Apple and Alphabet, as last year, ranked first and second, respectively.  

Of the 2023 Clean200 companies, the information technology sector accounted for nearly a quarter of the total sustainable revenue at $586 billion, followed by the communications services sector ($542 billion) and the industrials sector ($400 billion).

This year’s Clean200 companies rose to the top of a pool of 6,720 global firms based on rigorous assessment of the amount of revenue each company earns from products and services aligned with the Corporate Knights Sustainable Economy Taxonomy, while also ensuring that their businesses are not fundamentally offside important criteria for socially responsible investors, including being a company flagged by As You Sow’s Invest Your Values platform, which identifies fossil fuels, weapons, private prisons, thermal coal or having a record of systemically obstructing climate policy. 

CLEAN200 PERFORMANCE VS. BENCHMARK

Of note, it was found that on average 44.4% of the capital expenditure, acquisitions, and research and development expenses among the Clean200 companies were defined as sustainable by the Corporate Knights Sustainable Economy Taxonomy, compared to only 7% among MSCI ACWI constituents. On sustainable investments, the utilities and industrials sectors led with $50 billion each, followed by the communications services sector at $24 billion in sustainable investments. 

“It is telling that even on the back of a banner year for fossil fuel stocks, the Clean200 continued its six-plus-year track record of outperformance against both fossil-fuel and blue-chip benchmarks,” says Toby Heaps, CEO of Corporate Knights. 

While we’ve made great progress since 2016, we need to go further faster. For the first time, global investment in renewables rose above $1 trillion in 2022. But the International Energy Agency says we need to increase that amount to around $4 trillion per year by 2030 in order to reach net-zero by 2050.  

THE CLEAN200

METHODOLOGY

The Clean200 are the largest 200 public companies ranked by clean revenue. The ranking was first calculated on July 1, 2016, and publicly released on August 15, 2016, by Corporate Knights and As You Sow. The current list has been updated with data through January 31, 2023.  

The Clean200 companies are ranked by their clean revenues in U.S. dollars. The data set is developed through assessment of a company’s revenue that aligns with the definitions laid out in the Corporate Knights Sustainable Economy Taxonomy, primarily sourced from Corporate Knights research. To be eligible, a company must earn more than 10% of total revenues from clean sources. 

The Clean200 uses negative screens. It excludes all oil and gas companies, all utilities that generate less than 50% of their power from green sources, the top 100 coal companies measured by reserves, the top 100 oil and gas companies as measured by reserves, as well as all fossil fuel companies, majority fossil-fired utilities, pipeline and oil-field-services companies, and other fossil-fuel-related companies screened on As You Sow’s Fossil Free Funds. In addition, the Clean200 excludes weapons companies, including major military arms manufacturers found on the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Top 100 arms-producing and military services list, as well as cluster munitions, nuclear weapons and civilian firearm manufacturers screened on As You Sow’s Weapon Free Funds. The Clean200 also excludes palm oil, paper/pulp, rubber, timber, cattle and soy producers that are screened on As You Sow’s Deforestation Free Funds; companies that use child or forced labour, are involved in the manufacture of harmful pesticides, and that engage in negative climate lobbying are not included. The full list of exclusionary screens is provided below.  

The post These 200 companies are leading the clean economy in 2023 appeared first on Corporate Knights.

FOREWORD

Corporate Knights and As You Sow have released the annual update of the Clean200 global list of publicly traded companies that are leading the way with solutions for the transition to a clean energy future.

Since our first report was launched in the summer of 2016, a great deal has changed in the world.

Larry Fink, the CEO of the largest investment firm in the world, wrote in his 2022 letter to CEOs:

“It’s been two years since I wrote that climate risk is investment risk. And in that short period, we have seen a tectonic shift of capital. Sustainable investments have now reached $4 trillion. Actions and ambitions towards decarbonization have also increased. This is just the beginning – the tectonic shift towards sustainable investing is still accelerating. Whether it is capital being deployed into new ventures focused on energy innovation, or capital transferring from traditional indexes into more customized portfolios and products, we will see more money in motion. Every company and every industry will be transformed by the transition to a net zero world.”

It is these very companies in 35 countries that make up the Carbon Clean 200.

More than 1,000 companies have now committed to a net-zero-emission target in line with a 1.5°C future, representing US$23 trillion in market capitalization, more than the GDP of the United States.

The Clean200 companies are leading the way by putting sustainability at the heart of their products, services, business models, and investments, helping to move the world onto a more sustainable trajectory.

This year’s Clean200 companies rose to the top of a pool of 8,480 global firms based on rigorous assessment of the amount of revenue each company earns from products and services aligned with the Corporate Knights Clean Economy Taxonomy. They did so while ensuring that their businesses are not fundamentally offside important criteria for socially responsible investors, including being a company flagged by As You Sow’s Invest Your Values platform, which identifies fossil fuels, weapons, private prisons, thermal coal, or having a record of systemically obstructing climate policy.

Key Findings:

Geographically, Europe and the Americas each account for 37.5% of this year’s Clean200, while the remaining 50 companies are headquartered in the Asia Pacific region. The United States dominated the 2022 list, with 52 companies on the Clean200, while Canada had the second largest share with 18, closely followed by China, which 16 Clean200 companies are headquartered in.

On average, 58% of revenues earned by Clean200 companies are classified as clean, which is up from 39% in 2021 and significantly above the 20% average clean revenue for their MSCI ACWI peers.

But none of this would have legs if the Clean200 weren’t also faring well financially. On this score, as of January 31, 2022, the Clean200 has outperformed its MSCI ACWI peers by 3.94% since the Clean200 was launched in July of 2016.

Clean200 companies generated a total return of 107.09%, beating the MSCI ACWI broad market index (103.15%) and MSCI ACWI/Energy Index of fossil fuel companies (31.67%) on Total Return Gross — USD Basis from the Clean200 inception of July 1, 2016, to January 31, 2022.

To put that in context: $10,000 invested in the Clean200 on July 1, 2016, would have grown to $20,709 by January 31, 2022, versus $20,315 for the MSCI ACWI broad market benchmark and $13,167 for the MSCI ACWI/Energy benchmark for fossil fuel companies.

Looking Ahead:

What is needed now is for the rest of the business world, most importantly the big-money investors who have been sitting on the sidelines, to also lean into this form of clean capitalism.

Now that BlackRock, the largest investor in the world, with a whopping US$8.7 trillion under management, has jumped on the net-zero-emissions bandwagon, it is only a matter of time before it becomes the standard, placing a 100% sustainable and zero-carbon economy within our grasp. To date, financial firms have pledged that more than US$130 trillion of assets will be net-zero by 2050.

The good news for our species is that the forces of pride and profit have shifted to support the emerging regenerative economy based on justice and sustainability, leaving the extractive economy to wind down. We will see this escalate as the transition kicks in and every company on the planet reduces emissions by 5% per year over the next decade.

With the sun shining on climate solutions, companies are free at last to shed their carbon cloaks.

With all this action, we hope that the Clean200 can do two things:

1. Provide a useful north star for investors looking to pinpoint the companies leading the way to a clean energy future.
2. Dispel the myth that clean investing is about sacrificing returns.

To make things easier, Corporate Knights and As You Sow are proud to present the latest edition of the Clean200.

While we’re not promising any home runs, we are happy to report that the Clean200 now has more than a five-year track record and is outperforming both the broad-based benchmark and its high-carbon global counterparts.

CLEAN200 PERFORMANCE VS. BENCHMARK

CLEAN200 COMPANIES BY COUNTRY

The post Report: Meet the top 200 companies investing in a clean energy future appeared first on Corporate Knights.

Since our first report was launched in the summer of 2016, a great deal has changed in the world.

Larry Fink, the CEO of the largest investment firm in the world, BlackRock, wrote in his 2021 letter to CEOs:

“Given how central the energy transition will be to every company’s growth prospects, we are asking companies to disclose a plan for how their business model will be compatible with a net zero economy – that is, one where global warming is limited to well below 2°C, consistent with a global aspiration of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.”

Fink’s sentiment is playing out in real time. The negative impact of climate change across the entire economy, supply chains, capital markets and public health is now well charted, in particular the recent Harvard study showing that deaths related to fossil fuel pollution exceeded eight million in 2018 and are growing.

This year, riding Tesla’s soaring stock, Elon Musk passed Jeff Bezos to become the richest man on the planet, with a net worth of US$189.7 billion (as of January 8, 2021).

In carrying out his mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy, Musk has become a prophet for clean capitalism, with Tesla now ranked as the most sustainable and valuable car company in the world. It is also now the pure-play company on the Clean200.

Musk is not alone. The Prince of Wales, the pope and, critically, a global movement catalyzed by Greta Thunberg have all turned up the heat on businesses to get real about cooling the planet.

Prince Charles has long championed the environment and the central role industry and finance must play in its protection, but he’s dialled up the urgency significantly in the past year. In the fall, he said climate change poses such a severe threat that the world’s only option is to adopt a military-style response reminiscent of the U.S. Marshall Plan that helped rebuild post-war Europe 70 years ago.

In January, the prince looked back more than 800 years to the Magna Carta (which inspired a belief in the fundamental rights of people) to issue a companion document – the Terra Carta, or Earth Charter – that aims to enshrine the rights and value of nature in capitalism, inviting the world’s CEOs to make a sustainable future the growth story of our time.

Pope Francis once described unbridled capitalism as the “dung of the devil.” In a sign of the times, he recently gave his blessing to the Council for Inclusive Capitalism, a partnership between the Vatican and the leaders of some of the world’s largest businesses, including the chiefs of BP and Bank of America.

This seemingly unholy alliance seeks to make capitalism a more holy instrument for answering the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.

There are now more than 300 companies, representing more than US$3.6 trillion in market cap, that have committed to a net-zero-emission target in line with a 1.5°C future.

Some worry these are empty words that give the impression that sufficient action is being taken – a sort of delay tactic. Thunberg, the teenage activist who kicked off a citizens’ climate movement, says, “We must forget about net-zero – we need real zero.”

She spells out what that means:

“Immediately halt all investments in fossil fuel exploration and extraction. Immediately end all fossil fuel subsidies. And immediately and completely divest from fossil fuels. We don’t want these things done by 2050, 2030 or even [next year]. We want this done now.”

She’s right, but defunding carbon bombs will not be enough; not even close. The real action is going all in on funding climate solutions. What gets funded gets done. How we invest our trillions starting right now will determine our future.

To paraphrase Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti, the climate-solution revolution is today, not tomorrow. The litmus test for companies and countries (and anyone, really) is what percentage of your current budget is allocated with an intention to create a carbon-free sustainable world. If it’s less than 100%, you’ve got work to do.

The Clean200 companies are leading the way by putting sustainability at the heart of their products, services, business models and investments, helping to move the world onto a more sustainable trajectory.

This year’s Clean200 companies rose to the top of a pool of 8,080 global firms that earn more than $1 billion a year, based on rigorous assessment of the amount of revenue each company earns from products and services aligned with the Corporate Knights Clean Economy Taxonomy, while also ensuring that their businesses are not fundamentally offside important criteria for socially responsible investors, including substantial involvement in weapons, private prisons, thermal coal or having a record of systemically obstructing climate policy.

On average, 39% of revenues earned by Clean200 companies are classified as clean, which the majority of other revenues classified as neutral, compared to just 8% clean revenue for their peers.

But none of this would have legs if the Clean200 weren’t also faring well financially. On this score, the Clean200 handily outperformed its MSCI ACWI peers by 47% over the last year (to January 31, 2021) and by 34.74% since the Clean200 was launched in July 2016.

Clean200 companies generated a total return of 113.41%, beating the MSCI ACWI broad market index (78.67%) and MSCI ACWI/Energy Index of fossil fuel companies, (-13.83%) on Total Return Gross – USD Basis from the Clean200 inception of July 1, 2016, to January 31, 2021.

To put that in context: $10,000 invested in the Clean200 on July 1, 2016, would have grown to $21,340 by January 31, 2021, versus $17,867 for the MSCI ACWI broad market benchmark and $8,617 for the MSCI ACWI Energy benchmark for fossil fuel companies.

What is needed now is for the rest of the business world, most importantly the big-money investors who have been sitting on the sidelines, to also lean into this more civilized form of clean capitalism.

Now that BlackRock, the largest investor in the world, with a whopping US$8.7 trillion under management, has jumped the net-zero-emissions bandwagon, it is only a matter of time before it becomes the standard, placing a 100% sustainable and zero-carbon economy within our grasp.

The good news for our species is that the forces of pride and profit have shifted in favour of those on the right side of climate history, with shame and economic shambles awaiting those who cling to the wrong side.

With the sun shining on climate solutions, companies are free at last to shed their carbon cloaks.

With all this action, we hope that the Clean200 can do two things:

1. provide a useful North Star for investors looking to pinpoint the companies leading the way to a clean-energy future.
2. dispel the myth that clean investing is about sacrificing returns.

To make things easier, Corporate Knights and As You Sow are proud to present the latest edition of the Clean200.

While we’re not promising any home runs, we are happy to report that the Clean200 now has more than a four-year track record of outperforming its high-carbon global counterparts.

Clean200 vs. MSCI ACWI vs. ACWI Energy (Jul-01-2016 – Jan-31-2021, Total Return Gross – USD)

Clean 200 Companies by Country

THE CLEAN 200 LIST

DOWNLOAD DATA

Webinar and Slides

Press Release

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

ABOUT AS YOU SOW®: Founded in 1992, As You Sow promotes environmental and social corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy, coalition building and innovative legal strategies. Our efforts create large-scale systemic change by establishing sustainable and equitable corporate practices. As You Sow was founded on the belief that many environmental and human rights issues can be resolved by increased corporate responsibility. As investor representatives, we communicate directly with corporate executives to collaboratively develop and implement business models that reduce risk, benefit brand reputation and protect long-term shareholder value while simultaneously bringing about positive change for the environment and human rights.

The post Introducing the 2021 Carbon Clean200: Investing in a Clean Energy Future appeared first on Corporate Knights.

Since our first report was launched in the summer of 2016 a great deal has changed in the world.

Larry Fink, the CEO of the largest investment firm in the world, shook up Wall Street this January stating that we are “on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance” with climate change as a defining feature, that “climate risk in investing risk…in the near future – and sooner than most anticipate – there will be a significant reallocation of capital.”

In between Fink’s letter, Greta Thunberg’s call for a radical change acceleration on the pace of climate action took over the agenda at Davos during the World Economic Forum, where a new manifesto proclaimed stakeholder capitalism and ESG define the new economy and Larry Fink was spotted wearing a rare-edition 2 degrees scarf around his neck.

Another inflection point in the popular culture realm occurred during halftime at Superbowl 2020, where the company that once “killed the electric car” purchased a prime advertising slot to showcase their new electric Hummer with LeBron James as the pitchman.

The fundamental story is that march from high carbon energy to clean energy is only quickening driven mainly by economics, risk, and increasingly supported by other social forces from Greta to Pope Francis; from Extinction Rebellion to The European Central Bank.

Investors have awoken to this trend, which helps to account for the anomalous direction of oil prices and oil stock values in 2019. Brent Crude Oil prices rose 28% and WTI oil prices rose 30% last year, while the energy sector placed dead last in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, posting a 7.3% gain, while the index as a whole rose 29% for the year.

Financial markets are driven by two powerful emotions: greed and fear.

As the outgoing governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, puts it, “Companies that don’t adapt [to the low-carbon economy] – including companies in the financial system – will go bankrupt without question. [But] there will be great fortunes made along this path aligned with what society wants.”

To wit: the top five coal companies in the U.S. have all declared bankruptcy since 2016, and Apple is now bigger than all the oil and gas companies on the S&P 500 combined, in large part because they have earned negative returns over the last decade, even after accounting for dividends.

Carbon-intensive companies are suffering because the alternatives are not just cleaner but cheaper. Around two-thirds of the world’s population now live in countries in which wind or solar are the lowest-cost ways of generating power. Renewables are now cheaper than coal in two-thirds of the world’s countries, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. BNP Paribas estimates that oil needs to come down to US$10 a barrel to be competitive with electricity-driven transport. This does not mean fossil fuels are going away tomorrow, but it does kill the growth story and leads to questions about demand assumptions on big oil’s economic forecast. For oil investors, the market’s realization of this inevitable decline could make the coal horror show look like Mary Poppins.

This increasing speed of the energy transition is part of the reason why investors representing US$12 trillion in assets have made public their divestment from fossil fuels.

Perhaps more telling is that beyond these public declarations, many of the biggest investors in the world are selling off their fossil fuel holdings and loading up on green assets. For example, without any fanfare the C$200 billion Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has dialed down its fossil-fuel equity holdings to just 1%. On the upside, the C$306 billion Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) has grown its green investment book to C$30 billion, earning commercial returns along the way, according to outgoing chief executive Michael Sabia.

While economics are shifting in favor of clean energy investing, so is public sentiment. Call it the Greta effect if you like, but most people are no longer comfortable with the idea that their retirement investments may be helping to set the world on fire and we are seeing this especially in millennials and women.

Andreas Utermann, chief executive of Allianz Global Investors, which manages US$600 billion, says, “Clients have changed their tune. They have said we need to take this more seriously, and that has sharpened the minds of asset managers.”

With all this action, we hope that the Clean200 can to do two things:

• provide a useful North star for investors looking to pinpoint the companies leading the way to a clean energy future.
• to dispel the myth that clean investing is about sacrificing returns.

Efficient market theorists caution that if you add any non-financial considerations to portfolio selection, you are at a financial disadvantage. The trouble with this theory is that investing in a time of transition is like hitting a curveball. Putting on a clean energy lens gives the batter a better sense of the ball’s trajectory and increases the chance of making solid contact.

To make things easier, Corporate Knights and As You Sow are proud to present the latest edition of the Clean200.

While we’re not promising any home runs, we are happy to report that the Clean200 now has more than a three-year track record of outperforming its high-carbon global counterparts.

Clean 200 returns

Since inception (July 1, 2016), the Clean200 has generally been ahead of the MSCI ACWI Energy Index.

Source: S&P IQ Capital, Corporate Knights

Overall, the model presented in the form of the Clean200 continues to indicate that demand and market forces are driving growth for low carbon companies. Since its inception two and a half years ago, the Clean200 has generally outperformed the MSCI ACWI Energy Index. It will be interesting to see how the trends unfold over the next few months.

The Clean200 list