Monsanto announced that it has placed No. 12 out of 500 of the largest U.S. publicly traded companies in the 2016 Newsweek Green Rankings, which is created in partnership with Corporate Knights and HIP Investor. This represents a dramatic jump from last year’s rankings when Monsanto placed 52nd.
Monsanto continues to lead the agriculture sector in the Newsweek Green Rankings. The company also improved significantly on the global rankings list, moving to 22nd place in 2016, up from 84th in 2015.
“We’re delighted by the acknowledgment of our sustainability efforts by the 2016 Newsweek Green Rankings,” said Hugh Grant, Monsanto Chairman and CEO. “Our people are focused on collaborating with others to feed a growing planet in a changing climate. Through efforts with farmers on carbon neutral crop production and our company’s intention to be carbon neutral by 2021, we hope to help create a food-secure world that protects the environment.”
In the past year, Monsanto advanced multiple important sustainability goals. The company increased irrigation efficiency in its seed production business and curbed the intensity of its operational greenhouse gas emissions in the crop protection business. Additionally, Monsanto became the first company to partner with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Monarch Butterfly Conservation Fund, making a multimillion-dollar commitment to support efforts to benefit monarch butterflies.
“In the current global business and political climate, no company can continue to ignore its environmental footprint and there’s good news: Newsweek’s 2016 Green Rankings show that the world’s biggest companies are improving when it comes to energy productivity and in limiting greenhouse gas emissions,” said Elijah Wolfson, Senior Editor for Newsweek. “Our hope is that the rankings will propel leaders to start looking at their environmental impact not just in terms of carbon use, but comprehensively, and make the changes necessary to sustain both business growth and environmental viability.”
