Johnson Controls has announced it has been named among the world’s 100 most sustainable corporations in the 2022 Global 100 ranking by Corporate Knights. It is the eighth time Johnson Controls has received this honour. The company ranked first out of 26 in its Corporate Knights peer group for HVAC equipment manufacturing and first out of 74 in its industry group for Building Products. Johnson Controls jumped to 12th in the overall ranking, up from 38th last year.
Johnson Controls scored strongly in several areas, supported by actions such as committing to invest 75% of new product R&D in climate-related innovation and sustainable products and services, incorporating sustainability and diversity into executive compensation, and deriving a high percentage (nearly half) of its revenue from green products and services.
“Being named among the top 100 most sustainable companies is an honour, and evidence of our ongoing commitment to lead the way to a low-carbon economy,” says George Oliver, chairman and CEO, Johnson Controls. “The next decade is crucial in our shift to a sustainable economy. Sustainability is no longer an opt-in for the world’s companies; it needs to be part of their DNA. The bottom line is that it is urgent that we cut carbon. The good news is that cutting carbon is also good for the bottom line.”
The ranking is based on a rigorous assessment of 6,914 companies with more than US$1 billion in revenues. Global 100 companies earn 47% of their revenues from products or services categorised as “clean” under the Corporate Knights Clean Taxonomy. Johnson Controls in fiscal 2020 earned 48% of its revenues from clean products and services.
Johnson Controls is committed to helping solve the climate crisis, supporting customers in cutting their carbon footprint through offerings such as OpenBlue Net Zero Buildings as a Service. As a global leader in smart, healthy, sustainable building technology solutions, sustainability has been a central focus of its own operations for decades. Among the earliest industrial companies to report emissions and pledge emission reductions, the company has made tremendous progress – reducing carbon emissions intensity by more than 70% since 2002.
“At Johnson Controls we have created a business fully dedicated to sustainability – delivering technologies and creating partnerships for decarbonising buildings. The building sector accounts for nearly 40 percent of global annual CO2 emissions, so there is no tackling climate change without substantial investment in buildings. We have the technologies to cut carbon emissions today with tools like our OpenBlue digital platform that optimises building systems and cuts both emissions and costs,” says Katie McGinty, vice president and chief sustainability and external relations officer at Johnson Controls.
Moving forward, Johnson Controls is continuing to take significant steps to further improve its environmental impact and has committed to achieving net zero Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 2040 – ten years ahead of the Paris Climate Agreement goal. The company aims to cut its operational emissions by 55% and reduce customers’ emissions by 16% before 2030. These ambitious 2030 emissions reduction targets have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative. Johnson Controls also recently became the first industrial company to issue an Integrated Sustainable Finance Framework as well as a Sustainability-Linked Bond, building on its earlier leadership in green finance with its prior green bond issuance and the linking of its senior credit facility to sustainability metrics. As part of its Integrated Sustainable Finance Framework, Johnson Controls further committed to achieving ambitious absolute emission reductions by 2025.
Sustainalytics, a global leader in the fields of responsible investing and sustainable finance, recently recognised Johnson Controls as an industry leader in the management of the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) material risks. In January 2022, it was ranked third out of 132 companies in the Building Products industry for its strong management of material environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.
In the 2021 Drucker Institute’s Management Top 250, which is a list of the best managed companies in America, Johnson Controls placed at number 67 (up from 88 in 2020). The company received its highest marks in social responsibility, receiving 5 stars for its performance in this area as well as 5 stars in customer satisfaction.
