Unilever tops Two Tomorrows' sustainability chart

Anglo-Dutch fmcg giant Unilever tops the annual sustainability ratings chart from advisory firm Two Tomorrows.

Now in its tenth year, the Tomorrow’s Value Rating 2013 (TVR) assesses the sustainability performance of leading businesses worldwide. It uses a probing methodology to assess 50 companies in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI).

The average TVR score across the companies rated has varied only slightly over recent years, but in that time the highest scores have got higher. The average for the top 10 this year is 83% compared to 55% in 2010.

In second place in the league table was KT, the Korean telecoms organisation; Nestlé came third; Sprint appointed fourth and Vodafone in fifth. Iberdrola, E.ON, BMW, Ford and Deutsche Telecom made up the final 10.

Jon Woodhead, TVR director, commented: “Leaders in the TVR are characterised by the clarity of their vision when using market forces and societal trends to build a more sustainable business model. Unilever’s growth is directly related to the way it has responded to the challenges of global megatrends such as increasing resource scarcity, rising commodity costs and health and hygiene issues.”

The report reveals that TVR leaders drive innovation through partnerships and collaborations and a structured innovation process based on clear sustainability criteria. This enables them to develop new, more sustainable product revenue streams. They also incorporate stakeholder views in decision making and adapt their enterprise risk management systems to include long-term risks.

The TVR also pinpoints a number of companies relatively new to sustainability leadership: China Mobile stands out in effectively elevating stakeholder concerns to the ceo; and Norway-based Telenor demonstrates a strong understanding of how sustainability risks impact its value chain.