Finland-headed renewable fuels and oil refiner Neste has reached its highest-ever ranking on the Global 100 list of the world's most sustainable companies – the best performing energy company and second only to Dassault Systemes, a software company from France.
According to Neste, its jump from last year’s 23rd place to the 2nd place this year was enabled by its business transformation towards renewable solutions and continued good overall performance, especially in Clean Air Productivity, measuring the air emissions of the company.
Also, the introduction of a novel indicator, Green Revenue, has helped forerunner companies to differentiate.
Unlike in soccer or ice hockey, placing second on the Global 100 list is certainly considered a win, and we are very excited and humbled by the result. We wish to extend the congratulations also to all our employees and the external stakeholders, who have contributed to the continuous improvement in our sustainability performance, commented Matti Lievonen, President and CEO at Neste.
The company says it makes its greatest sustainability contribution through refining high-quality renewable products from low-quality waste and residues. The carbon “handprint” of its renewable fuel and chemical products amounts to several million tonnes of avoided greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions annually.
In 2016, replacing fossil products with Neste’s renewable products reduced climate emissions by 6.7 million tonnes, and although the carbon handprint for 2017 is still being calculated, Neste reckons that the figure will be even higher.
We are determined to push ourselves and our partners even further. We have already made a significant impact in the area of decarbonizing transportation. We are now entering the aviation and chemicals sectors with the aim of making a similar climate contribution and by supporting their transformation processes, Lievonen said.
Unique approach
Neste highlights that the approach of Global 100 is unique, as it assesses all publicly-listed companies with the most recent gross revenue of US$1 billion or more. All industries and geographies are automatically considered in the 5 900 or so companies evaluated.
The ranking is based on publicly-disclosed data with The Global 100 using indicators that can be objectively measured – it does not try to gauge companies’ exposure to qualitative sustainability risks. Thus, says Neste, the evaluation is based on data, not judgment or reputation.
