This past week, Novozymes was the only company in the biotechnology industry sector to receive a top gold ranking from the Swiss-based sustainability investment group Robeco SAM.
Novozymes was also ranked 19th in the Global 100 list of the world’s most sustainable corporations in 2013, by Corporate Knights, a Toronto-based media and investment research company.
Only the top 15% of 2,500 companies in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index are included in the SAM Sustainability Yearbook. The best performers among these receive the SAM gold ranking, which is what Novozymes has achieved for the fourth year in a row.
“Being acknowledged as one of the most sustainable companies in the world by two, well-respected institutions in one week is indeed a great acknowledgement of our efforts to create a cleaner, greener world,” says Steen Riisgaard, CEO of Novozymes, who is attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland this week.
Whereas the Global 100 takes into account publicly-disclosed information for its 12 key performance indicators, the SAM ranking is based on assessment of both internal and external information about Novozymes’ performance for all business areas. In combination, the two ratings confirm Novozymes’ global sustainability leadership position.
Growth by sustainability
The fact that an index such as Global 100 is launched at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos underlines the importance of sustainability to the world economy. Together with government leaders and heads of global businesses, Steen Riisgaard will facilitate several key events on sustainability and growth at WEF, whose theme this year is “Resilient Dynamism.”
“Sustainability is no longer just about the environment, or a separate ‘add-on’ initiative,” says Steen Riisgaard. “Today sustainability is fully integrated into the strategy and operations of a company, and considered to be imperative for business growth and leadership.”
Investing in sustainability to create economic growth
A new report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance states that global investments in green energy dropped 11% in 2012. The main reason for this significant decline was reductions in incentives for sustainable energy, which is a wrong course for the world to take, says Steen Riisgaard.
“The climate crisis and the economic crisis are two big challenges today. Investing in green energy now will not only tackle an important part of the climate challenge, but will also be a way to create resilient dynamism in our economies,” says Steen Riisgaard.