Unilever is #1 in sustainability leadership

EXPERT stakeholders from business, government, NGOs, and academia across 87 countries have ranked Unilever, Patagonia, Interface and M&S as leading companies in corporate sustainability.

For the fourth year in a row, Unilever is on the number-one spot as corporate sustainability trailblazer, with 33% of respondents identifying the company as a “leader in integrating sustainability into its business strategy.” Nearly one in 10 (9%, down 5 points) mention Patagonia, 7% mention Interface (down 4 points) and 6% point to M&S. Other companies named to the top 12 include: Nestle, Natura, Nike, GE, Walmart, Puma, IKEA and Coca Cola.

“Comparing the current crop of recognised leaders with those from a decade ago, we see that we have moved from an era of ‘do no harm’ leadership where risk management was the dominant framework to one where early stages of transformation are emerging,” says Eric Whan, director of Sustainability at GlobeScan.

The full Sustainability Leaders report is 20 years’ worth of the authors’ tracking and analysis of the evolution of the sustainability agenda, and of the leaders and institutions most responsible for driving it forward. It provides an overview of perceived corporate sustainability leaders from 1997 to 2014. Top companies over those years include Dow, BP, Shell, Interface, Walmart and Unilever.