Corporate Knights

Eighteen years ago, Corporate Knights set out to determine whether the world’s most sustainable companies could also outperform financially. It turns out, they can. For decades, businesses focused primarily on creating shareholder value, and as a result, they actively ignored the needs of one of their most important stakeholders: the planet. The resulting climate crisis is already being felt worldwide. To ensure a sustainable future in which both people and the planet can thrive, we need a holistic approach to ensuring that our ecological, social and economic priorities carry equal weight. While polluting industries have fuelled the crisis we face today, business is also key to unlocking solutions. Fortunately, a new wave of companies is working to leverage our inherent capacity for cooperation and ingenuity in service of a more…

Building our way forward Reading John Lorinc’s recent article “Green Building Labels Need Renovating,” you would think the green building sector has stagnated for decades, and only regulation will save the planet. The article argues for progressive building codes while diminishing the role of voluntary green building certifications in shifting the market. That’s misinformed and short-sighted, as voluntary standards are generally the innovators that encourage better codes. It’s a symbiotic relationship. Certifications tend to push codes further and then must overlap them to ensure voluntary standards are advancing what it means to be a green building. Outside of the green building world, not many people know that voluntary programs like LEED tie certification to a specific year and rating-system version and that those versions change over time. We shouldn’t be…

Yvon Chouinard has had a 60-year love hate relationship with business. So it came as no surprise to some when the founder of Patagonia and his family announced in early September that they would give the outdoor apparel brand to a trust and non-profit to fight the climate crisis. “The Chouinards are renouncing their status as one of the wealthiest families in America,” said The New York Times – noting that “it felt like a very un-billionaire-like way to fight climate change.” Chouinard has never accepted conventional labels, describing himself as a misfit, dirtbag, rebel and craftsman. As a young man he embraced the mountains, living rough in the woods of Yosemite and British Columbia while pioneering new climbing routes and techniques. At first, he funded his lifestyle by blacksmithing,…

The sustainable finance industry is facing a growing battle on two fronts as Republican lawmakers ramp up a culture war against “woke capitalism” and investors demand more decisive action on climate change. The squeeze is causing the environmental, social and governance (ESG) industry to push back against conservative attacks by asserting that its only goal is to protect investors from social and environmental risk. But some industry leaders say the conflict demands a new approach based on real-world impact – particularly on CO2 reductions – and away from the sole reliance on environmental and social risk. Recently, Republicans have focused their attacks on BlackRock, the largest asset manager in the world and a high-profile proponent of ESG investing. Nineteen Republican-led states accused the company of ignoring investor needs by supporting…

Back in the 1960s, Canadians loved Esso’s ad campaign “Put a tiger in your tank” so much they attached colourful “tiger tails”to their gas tank covers. The plush orange-and-black pennant flapped proudly behind Granddad’s Pontiac as it belched exhaust fumes and promoted his favourite hydrocarbon. But oil-industry marketing may soon be as endangered as tigers in the wild. Growing knowledge of the climate dangers of fossil fuels – and the role of marketing in boosting demand – is changing attitudes toward oil industry promotion. In late summer, France led the way in announcing a ban on advertising for fossil products such as oil, coal and hydrogen containing carbons. Penalties include fines ranging from €20,000 to €100,000, with those amounts doubling for repeat offences. Even The Drum, a U.K.-based web publisher…

From the global ubiquity of Bitcoin to satirical meme projects like the dog-faced Dogecoin, cryptocurrencies have been both hailed as the future of money and mocked as a giant sham. Apart from price volatility and the sheer impossibility of keeping up with 20,000 different crypto brands, there’s been a dark cloud hanging over crypto: producing these intangible virtual currencies requires tonnes of carbon emissions that the planet didn’t expect and can’t afford. To regulate cryptocurrency production, each platform is “mined” by developers who compete to solve challenging mathematical equations with the fastest computer equipment they can buy. Managing the Bitcoin blockchain alone consumes about 150 terawatt-hours of electricity a year, or about 0.5% of all the world’s electricity production – as much as Sweden with its 10 million people. Fortunately…