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Photograph by Jonas Weckschmied
W.W. Grainger
and
Tiffany
are sector leaders in Barron’s third annual ranking of the America’s Most Sustainable Companies.
Supplier Grainger (ticker: GWW) tops the industrials sector, according to Calvert Research & Management, which compiles the ranking, while jewelry retailer Tiffany (TIF) is No. 1 in consumer discretionary. Meanwhile,
Voya Financial
(VOYA) sits atop the financials sector,
Clorox
(CLX) is No. 1 in consumer staples, and
Texas Instruments
(TXN) has the best sustainability ranking in information technology.
In an interview with Barron’s, D.G. Macpherson, CEO of Grainger, said the industrial supplier helps customers curb usage of water, electricity and other resources. Green products, which Grainger qualifies for itself, now account for 5% of firm sales. The supplier has moved to reduce emissions, partly by grouping orders to be sent to clients. “We feel that we’re out front in providing those solutions,” says Macpherson. “To the extent that we can have measurable actions, we think it’s important for all of business.”
Separately, Calvert, a unit of
Eaton Vance
(EV), also supplied a ranking of real-estate investment trusts, with
Kilroy Realty
(KRC) as the most sustainable real-estate investment trusts. Calvert typically excludes REITs because they aren’t operating companies, and are “a different asset class,” designed for tax purposes, Calvert’s Chris Madden says. There are, however, real estate management and operating companies in the overall ranking.
Source: Calvert Research & Management; Bloomberg
Source: Calvert Research & Management; Bloomberg
Source: Calvert Research & Management; Bloomberg
Source: Calvert Research & Management; Bloomberg
Source: Calvert Research & Management; Bloomberg
Source: Calvert Research & Management; Bloomberg
To create the various Barron’s lists, Calvert started with the 1,000 largest publicly traded companies by market value then ranked each by how they performed for five key constituencies: shareholders, employees, customers, community, and the planet. Specifically, it looked at more than 230 performance indicators that address environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, such as workplace diversity, data security, and greenhouse-gas emissions. Based on the indicators, Calvert assigned a score of zero to 100 in each stakeholder category. Then, it created a weighted average of the categories for each company, based on how financially material each category was for its industry peer group.
Write to Leslie P. Norton at [email protected]
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