Between regulations, people’s own awareness, and more, ESG factors have only become more important to investors and companies. Investors recognise that there is some connection between a company's financial performance and risk profile with how sustainable they are and their ethical performance. And companies recognize this is important too since it’s hard to be more profitable if their raw materials are used up or cost more due to climate change or other factors.

As far as ESG is concerned, ratings are provided by MSCI which uses comprehensive and transparent methods to assess a company’s exposure to ESG risks and how well they can manage them. They are given ranks ranging from AAA to CCC and they provide a general idea to investors on a company's standings with ESG. From how much they care about it, to actual ethical and sustainable performance, this rating is key.

Below are several of these companies who have integrated ESG into their business practices.

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NVIDIA Corporation

One of the biggest tells about a company’s environmental strategy is how quickly they want to get to net zero. That intention can easily be marked by the fact the company makes an announcement about it. For many companies, the deadline they give themselves is often 2030 which is good, but still many years down the road.

In the case of NVIDIA they have the deadline of 2025.

To be fair, this company does handle graphics processing units as well as other technology for gaming. As a result their carbon footprint isn’t as demanding as say the fashion industry or others that emit way more water, carbon, and energy. But the fact the company does have a closer deadline than other businesses is a highlight.

Xylem Inc.

A company with more of an impact that is top-rated is Xylem Inc. They provide water technology which operates in a variety of situations. Spanning over 150 countries, this company’s products serve public utilities and is used in housing, office buildings, farming, and industrial environments. 

Based out of the US, this is one of the few companies in the industrial machinery industry to have this rating. What’s even more impressive is they offer green financing initiatives, making them key players in their industry for further green initiatives in their industry.

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Best Buy

Leading retailer of consumer electronics in North America, the company has branched off a little into offer services to design, set up, and maintain home media and computing systems. Their business endeavours have helped them carve out a particular niche in the industry. Between their unique business model, their ESG efforts have also been quite notable too.

Not only do they accept batteries that they recycle, but they’ve also made headlines back in 2020 when their Chino, California facility achieved nearly 100% waste diversion. Similar to NVIDIA, they also want to reduce waste substantially by 2025, with their target of 85% aste diversion across all of their US operations.

They also put in efforts to work with communities too with one project in Los Angeles where they invested $10 million in building teen tech centres. There, teens can learn about programming, design, and music production.

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J.B. Hunt Transport Services

With a lot of industries' solutions to climate change not being financially viable or regulated, it’s refreshing to see a trucking company trying it’s best to work towards overcoming this challenge. It’s also great to see on their company website, J.B. Hunt states that offsetting methods we see today are only an interim solution rather than the solution towards solving the entire climate crisis

This is also conveyed in their actions as the company’s goal is to have a net zero carbon footprint by 2025. Overall their strategy is to be looking for alternative fuel sources since the company handles last-mile delivery services, trucking, and intermodal.

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Promising Top-Rated Companies

ESG innovation across industries is happening everywhere and you’d be surprised what kind of industries and companies are able to mitigate their carbon footprint as well as thrive in those industries.

But one thing is clear about these rankings - there is a lot of potential for improvement and a lot of these companies are showing the challenges and the possibilities and viabilities of making these big changes.

Follow more business-related ESG developments at our Companies page.