European pension funds among top influential sustainable firms

The list of companies that have the most influence over the world’s ability to move to a more sustainable future was unveiled on Monday.

Compiled by the World Benchmarking Alliance, the SDG2000 list is comprised of companies which collectively make up half of the global economy and are responsible for $43trn (€38.6trn) in revenue.

With increased expectation to deliver on commitments to meet the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, SDG2000 identifies the 2,000 companies with the most impact across seven key transformation areas:

• Food Systems,
• Decarbonisation & Energy,
• Circular, Digital,
• Financial,
• Urban;
• Social.

“Companies must compete globally, and to be successful, they need to embed the right sustainability practices at the very core,” said Pauliina Murphy, director at WBA.

“There is no greater urgency than tackling inequality, climate change and biodiversity loss.

“These SDG2000 companies have the potential to drive forward systems change. Our benchmarks hold a mirror to companies on their performance, which encourages a race to the top and hold laggards to account,” she added.

What’s next?

With the 2,000 companies now identified, the WBA will rank those listed on their performance and impact on the SDGs – ensuring the results and findings are freely and publicly available to all.

Through this transparency, the intention is that the rankings will hold businesses to account by highlighting peer-to-peer performance.

This will hopefully inspire leaders to make the changes necessary for real impact and act as an accountability mechanism for those who are falling behind.

Pension funds

Of the 2,000 companies on the list, 53 were pension funds.

The majority are based in the US, but 10 European pension funds were also listed – half of them from Scandinavia.

Asset Managers

Europe also produced a respectable showing in the asset management category, producing 22 of the 118 listed.

Excluding the UK-based companies, however, dropped that number by more than 50%.

United Kingdom

The 11 UK asset managers making the WBA grade were:

• Aon
• Apax Partners
• Baillie Gifford
• BNY Mellon
• Fidelity International
• Investec
• Janus Henderson
• Legal & General Group
• M&G
• Schroders
• Standard Life Aberdeen
• Willis Towers Watson