Corporate Knights and As You Sow have released the annual update of the Clean200 global list of publicly traded companies that are leading the way with solutions for the transition to a clean energy future.

Since our first report was launched in the summer of 2016 a great deal has changed in the world.

Larry Fink, the CEO of the largest investment firm in the world, wrote in his 2022 letter to CEOs:  

“It’s been two years since I wrote that climate risk is investment risk. And in that short period, we have seen a tectonic shift of capital. Sustainable investments have now reached $4 trillion. Actions and ambitions towards decarbonization have also increased. This is just the beginning – the tectonic shift towards sustainable investing is still accelerating. Whether it is capital being deployed into new ventures focused on energy innovation, or capital transferring from traditional indexes into more customized portfolios and products, we will see more money in motion. Every company and every industry will be transformed by the transition to a net zero world.”

It is these very companies, across the world in 35 countries that make up the Carbon Clean 200.

There are now more than 1,000 companies that have committed to a net-zero-emission target in line with a 1.5°C future, representing US$23 trillion in market capitalization, more than the GDP of the United States.

The Clean200 companies are leading the way by putting sustainability at the heart of their products, services, business models, and investments, helping to move the world onto a more sustainable trajectory.

This year’s Clean200 companies rose to the top of a pool of 8,480 global firms based on rigorous assessment of the amount of revenue each company earns from products and services aligned with the Corporate Knights Clean Economy Taxonomy, while also ensuring that their businesses are not fundamentally offside important criteria for socially responsible investors, including being a company flagged by As You Sow’s Invest Your Values platform which identifies fossil fuels, weapons, private prisons, thermal coal, or having a record of systemically obstructing climate policy.

Key Findings:

Geographically, Europe and the Americas each account for 37.5% of this year's Clean200, while the remaining 50 companies are headquartered in the Asia Pacific region. The United States dominated the 2022 list, with 52 companies on the Clean200, while Canada had the second largest share with 18, closely followed by China which is headquarters to 16 Clean200 companies.

On average, 58% of revenues earned by Clean200 companies are classified as clean, which is up from 39% in 2021, and significantly above the 20% average clean revenue for their MSCI ACWI peers.

But none of this would have legs if the Clean200 weren’t also faring well financially. On this score, as of Jan. 31, 2022, the Clean200 outperformed its MSCI ACWI peers by 3.94% since the Clean200 was launched in July of 2016.

Clean200 companies generated a total return of 107.09% beating the MSCI ACWI broad market index (103.15%) and MSCI ACWI/Energy Index of fossil fuel companies (31.67%) on Total Return Gross — USD Basis from the Clean200 inception of July 1, 2016 to Jan. 31, 2022.

To put that in context: $10,000 invested in the Clean200 on July 1, 2016 would have grown to $20,709 by Jan. 31, 2022, versus $20,315 for the MSCI ACWI broad market benchmark and $13,167 for the MSCI ACWI/Energy benchmark for fossil fuel companies.

Looking Ahead:

What is needed now is for the rest of the business world, most importantly the big-money investors who have been sitting on the sidelines, to also lean into this form of clean capitalism.

Now that BlackRock, the largest investor in the world, with a whopping $8.7 trillion under management, has jumped onto the net-zero-emissions bandwagon, it is only a matter of time before it becomes the standard, placing a 100% sustainable and zero-carbon economy within our grasp. To date, financial firms have pledged that more than US$130 trillion of assets will be net-zero by 2050.

The good news for our species is that the forces of pride and profit have shifted to support the emerging regenerative economy based on justice and sustainability leaving the extractive economy to wind down. We will see this escalate as the transition kicks in and every company on the planet reduces emissions by 5% per year over the next decade.

With the sun shining on climate solutions, companies are free at last to shed their carbon cloaks.

With all this action, we hope that the Clean200 can to do two things:

1. provide a useful North Star for investors looking to pinpoint the companies leading the way to a clean energy future.

2. to dispel the myth that clean investing is about sacrificing returns.

To make things easier, Corporate Knights and As You Sow are proud to present the latest edition of the Clean200.

While we’re not promising any home runs, we are happy to report that the Clean200 now has more than a five-year track record and is outperforming both the broad-based benchmark and its high-carbon global counterparts.

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