Ørsted ranked world’s most sustainable energy company and publishes climate leadership handbook

Ørsted ranks as the world’s most sustainable energy company in Corporate Knight’s 2022 Global 100 index of the world’s most sustainable corporations. The energy company has transformed its business from fossil fuels to renewables faster than any other major energy company, and the early transition has made Ørsted the global leader in offshore wind and a trusted partner for governments and businesses who take real action on climate.

Looking into a year where governments must revisit their pledges from COP26 and where investors and consumers will likely increase demands for corporate climate action, Ørsted publishes the climate leadership handbook ’Getting on track for 1.5 °C – How governments and businesses can supercharge decarbonisation’ and points to key actions that governments and businesses can and must take now.

Mads Nipper, Group President and CEO of Ørsted, says: “Taking the necessary action to stay within 1.5 °C is in essence neither a technology nor an economic challenge. It’s a leadership challenge, and we don’t have another month, week, or day to waste. In the past year, we’ve seen a boom in government and corporate climate ambitions, and 2022 must be the year where governments and businesses turn ambition into action.”

He continues: “Energy is still responsible for over 70 % of global emissions, and without an immediate ramp-up in action, the world will not halve emissions by 2030, and our shot at a 1.5 °C future is lost. As a green energy leader, we experience first-hand what’s delaying the decarbonisation of the world’s power systems, and what takes us forward, and we’re eager to share our insights on how to accelerate global climate action.”

In the new climate leadership handbook, Ørsted points to urgent issues that public and private leaders must resolve now. The key actions for governments include setting higher targets for deployment of renewable energy and creating faster, more predictable consenting processes that enable a faster renewables build-out, which also supports an improvement of biodiversity. Among the urgent actions needed in the private sector are setting science-based net-zero targets and reducing at least 90 % of emissions before utilising offsets.

Most sustainable energy company four years in a row

Ørsted has been ranked as the top performing energy company in Corporate Knight’s Global 100 corporate sustainability index four years in a row and has even topped the ranking across sectors. Mads Nipper says: 

“I’m delighted that Ørsted is once again recognised as the most sustainable energy company in the world and even as one of the most sustainable corporations across sectors. We’ve transformed our company completely to get where we are today, and I truly believe that sustainability will be a fundamental premise of all businesses in only a few years’ time. A benchmark like Corporate Knights’ Global 100 plays an important role in pushing corporate sustainability practices by creating a race to the top.”

Ørsted’s vision is a world that runs entirely on green energy, and when done right, the company believes that the green transformation can not only decarbonise energy, but also create growth in economies, revitalise local communities, and make a net-positive contribution to biodiversity. Ørsted is recognised by CDP as a global leader on climate change and was validated by SBTi in October 2021 as the first and still only energy company in the world to have a science-based net-zero target.

About the Global 100 index

The Corporate Knights Global 100 index is an annual ranking of the world’s 100 most sustainable corporations. These companies represent the top 1 % in the world on corporate sustainability performance. The ranking is cross-sectoral, including the industrial, financial, IT, consumer, and healthcare sectors. 

To determine the 2022 ranking, Corporate Knights has analysed 6,914 companies with more than USD 1 billion in revenues against global industry peers on a suite of up to 24 quantitative key performance indicators.

Ørsted ranks as the world’s most sustainable energy company on the 2022 Global 100 index, fourth year running, and taking 7^th place across all sectors, Ørsted remains ranked as an absolute top global sustainability performer.  

The full 2022 methodology can be found here.

• https://www.youtube.com/embed/TJtw_9W1JsQ
• Video with Ørsted CEO Mads Nipper commenting on the need to go from climate ambition to action.