Corporate Knights has announced its 2012 list of the Global 100, its annual ranking of what are ostensibly the worlds most sustainable companies. And once again the list is deeply misleading.
The list is topped by pharmaco Novo Nordisk, Brazils Natura Cosmeticos, Norwegian energy company Statoil, the Danish biotech company Novozymes, and a Dutch company called ASML Holding, a manufacturer of photolithography machines used in the semiconductor industry. Some will surely express surprise at the list — after all, none of these companies is in an industry known for being squeaky-clean. But thats not the real problem.
The real problem lies in Corporate Knights methodology. Like all similar rankings, this one has to choose some criteria. A

