BNP Paribas: “Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations” ranking
Having been included for the first time in the Corporate Knights index in 2015, BNP Paribas has climbed 50 places in the space of six years and is now ranked 31st most sustainable company in the world. Thanks to its very good results, BNP Paribas positions itself as the #1 French bank, the #2 European bank and as the #3 bank worldwide (on a total of 427 banks assessed).
This year, the BNP Paribas group has especially excelled in the fields of social responsibility (health and safety, pension contributions, gender equality on the Board of Directors…) and development of positive impact financial products & services. In addition, the integration by the Group of CSR indicators into its top management’s deferred variable compensation (in which they account for 20% of the overall component) has also been valued in the rating process and is an element which makes the Group stand out in the banking sector.
Corporate Knights, which publishes the ‘magazine for clean capitalism’, is a Toronto-based independent media, research and financial information specialist.
The “Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations” ranking lists the 100 companies worldwide that have done most to promote sustainable development, and which succeeded in balancing financial performance with corporate social responsibility. To compile its 2020 ranking, Corporate Knights examined 7,395 publicly-listed companies with gross revenue of a minimum of 1$ billion for fiscal year 2018. These companies have been measured against their sector rivals on the basis of 21 performance indicators.
"We are proud to appear on the list of the “Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations” for the sixth year running. The constancy of good results obtained by BNP Paribas in the internationally recognized Corporate Knights’ annual ranking demonstrates both BNP Paribas' determination to implement its commitments as a responsible bank and the efficiency of actions settled by the Group to reach its environmental, social and governance goals in the long-term" says Laurence Pessez, Deputy Head of Company Engagement in charge of CSR.
Extra-financial ratings are drawn up by assessing the environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies pursued by companies, sovereign states or other issuers of financial securities. The ratings are designed to enable a direct comparison of ESG practices between the issuers of listed and non-listed securities. This type of corporate rating is also referred to as a ‘declarative’ rating, as opposed to a ‘requested’ rating, since the extra-financial ratings agencies are not commissioned and remunerated by the company being rated but by investors who wish to take account of ESG criteria in their long-term investment decisions.
