Methodology Overview: The Definitive Global Sustainability Benchmark

Global 100: Methodology Overview

Analysis for the Global 100 was based on the work of four sustainability research providers: Corporate Knights, Global Currents, Inflection Point Capital Management and Phoenix Global ADVISORS LLC (Phoenix).

The Global 100 is the most extensive data-driven corporate sustainability assessment in existence, and inclusion is limited to a select group of the top 100 large-cap companies in the world.

The Global 100 for 2012 were determined through a two-stage research process:

1.         The “Global 400 Sustainability leaders” were selected by Phoenix from a universe of 3,500 developed and emerging market stocks, based on their integrated sustainability ratings from the world’s largest sustainability research consortium, The Global Sustainability Research Alliance (GSRA), and on their performance on a financial stress test administered by Global Currents.

2.         The Global 400 Sustainability leaders are then passed to Corporate Knights, who percentile ranks the companies against their industry peers on 11 KPIs used in the Corporate Knights research model (data are collected by Corporate Knights and verified with the BLOOMBERG PROFESSIONAL® service). Industry representation was then adjusted to match industry representation in the MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI).  Inflection Point Capital Management determined the total return from the finalized Global 100 index from February 1 2005 to December 31st, 2011 to support follow up analytics and quantitative testing.

Corporate Knights

Corporate Knights (CK) is a Toronto-based media, research and financial products. CK’s media division distributes its flagship magazine Corporate Knights as a quarterly insert in the Globe and Mail and Washington Post.  Corporate Knights is the world’s only large circulation (200K+) magazine focused on the intersection between business and society.  CK’s financial products division, Corporate Knights Capital, quantifies clean capitalism drivers for the financial marketplace.

Inflection Point Capital Management

Inflection Point is a new sustainability-focused asset management venture founded by Dr. Matthew Kiernan, founder and former CEO of a leading global sustainability research firm.

Global Currents

Global Currents is a new investment adviser of Legg Mason, Inc. focused on institutional clients, sub-advisory relationships, and fulfilling the investment needs of high net worth individuals.

Phoenix Global ADVISORS LLC

Phoenix Global Advisors LLC is a consulting and technology platform that enables the integration of ESG research and financial performance factors to construct, model, and maintain multi-asset class products, including the Global 100.

Click here for the Global 100 Council of Experts