Source: Corporate Knights magazine, Toronto

The sixth annual Global 100 most sustainable large corporations list, announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, includes construction and materials giants Lafarge SA (No. 51) of France and Australia-based Boral Ltd. (No. 61). Factors in the ranking include sales/metric ton of waste produced, carbon emissions, and carbon productivity (sales/metric ton of total CO2)--all measuring against company financial data. In carbon productivity, Lafarge scored $266, Boral $1,177. However, Lafarge was applauded for scoring 75 percent on transparency and reported increasing its annualized resource productivity in excess of the 6 percent “sustainable path” threshold from 2006 to 2008 in energy, carbon and water. Boral was recognized for a score of 81 percent for transparency and reporting impressive water productivity numbers.

Corporate Knights is a media business devoted to prompting and reinforcing sustainable development. Topped by General Electric Co., the firm’s Global 100 includes companies from 24 countries encompassing all sectors with a collective value of $4 trillion and three million employees. They were evaluated according to how effectively they managed environmental, social and governance risks, and opportunities relative to their industry peers. Analysis was based on the work of a group of sustainability research providers used to isolate a short list of the top 10 percent of sustainability and financial performers from a universe of 3,000 developed and emerging market stocks.