2021 Global 100 FAQ

Frequently asked questions regarding the Global 100 ranking

Please see answers below to the most common questions about the Corporate Knights Global 100 ranking.

Sections:

General Global 100 Questions

Global 100 Methodology and Data Submission Questions

Indicator-Specific Questions

Clean Revenue and Clean Investment Questions

Corporate Knights Data Portal Functionality Questions

General Global 100 Questions 

1.What are the eligibility requirements for the Global 100 ranking?

To be eligible for the Global 100 ranking, a company’s gross revenue for the ranked fiscal year (FY2019 in 2021 ranking, FY2020 in 2022 ranking and so on) must be more than US$1 billion, and the company must be publicly traded.

2. Is participating in the ranking free for companies?

There is no cost associated with participating in the ranking.

3. Our company is private. Is it eligible to be part of the Global 100 universe?

The Global 100 ranks publicly traded companies with more than US$1 billion of gross revenue. While private companies are not part of the Global 100 universe, Corporate Knights has other rankings in which private company data is used, such as the Best 50 ranking. In addition, we provide quarterly ESG updates, using data from private and public companies, to clients and investors who use our ESG information to create ror monitor portfolios.

4. What data sources were used to collect the research?

The fiscal 2019 data (2021 Global 100) was collected by looking through annual reports, sustainability reports and company websites and in some cases was supplemented with data from third-party providers.

5. How are Corporate Knights Industry Groups determined?

The Corporate Knights Industry Groups (CKIGs) is a classification system developed by Corporate Knights that groups companies according to clean revenue characteristics and resource intensity. You can download the full universe of companies with their CKIG classification here. Please email [email protected] if you feel there is a strong case for your company to have its classification changed.

6. We have data that Corporate Knights is requesting that we have not made public. We are, however, willing to provide it to Corporate Knights. Can that be accepted? 

We prefer data that has been made public at the time of submission or that will be made public in advance of the Global 100 release. If this is not possible, Corporate Knights can accept the data for ratings purposes, provided the company give Corporate Knights permission to make the data public. Please provide as much detail as necessary for our analysts to properly vet the submission.

7. Does receiving a data-verification request mean that my company has been shortlisted for the ranking?

If you have received a data-verification request, it does not mean that you have been shortlisted. It means that your company is considered part of the eligible research universe we analyze to determine the shortlist.

8. How can I get more details on my company’s performance compared to our peers?

Corporate Knights provides complimentary scorecards to companies which participate in the data verification exercise. Contact [email protected] to obtain a complimentary scorecard for your company.

Global 100 Methodology and Data Submission Questions

1. In cases where we have restated historical values, should we keep the data as it was published in the previous years or the pro-forma/restated figures?

Pro-forma/restated figures.

2. If my company recently completed a merger, what values should we provide for historical results?

Provide the values for the larger company per market capitalization unless consolidated results are available for the fiscal year for which we are collecting data.

3. Our sustainability report, which includes the requested data, will be published after the Corporate Knights ranking comes out. Is there a way for me to provide such data and add that comment?

Yes. Please include a link to the section of your site where the report will be posted and clarify in the notes section when the report will be publicly available.

4. Our company reports in different units than specified on the Corporate Knights portal. How do we convert our metrics into the units specific to the Corporate Knights portal? 

To convert metrics you can either add Google’s conversion extension – https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/unit-converter/igjeajmonjofckmiheidpmebpmdbbiam?hl=en – to your Chrome browser.

NOTE: Please do not convert currencies in your submission; use the reporting currency indicated for your company.

5. Is there a way to identify that a particular metric doesn’t apply to our business?

Please look at the weights (to the left of the value box in the data portal). Anything with less than 1% weight is relatively unimportant. You can also see the list of weights per CKIG and per indicator here.

Indicator-Specific Questions

Fines and Sanctions

1. Is there a “size threshold” to consider in our answer? (i.e., should we aggregate all fines/sanctions/settlements, no matter how small, or take into consideration only the most significant?)

Please ensure you include all fines over US$100,000.

2. Should we construe settlements to include amounts paid to settle civil litigation matters?

Yes, unless they have not been paid AND are being appealed.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

1. Should we be reporting market-based or location-based Scope 2 GHG emissions?

Location-based.

Employee Costs

1. Should the amount reported as employee costs include social contributions as stipulated by law, such as state pension, social insurance, health insurance, etc.?

Yes. Please include all contributions made by the company for employee compensation and benefits.

EBITDA

1. Regarding EBITDA: are you asking for “pure” EBITDA or adjusted EBITDA?

Pure EBITDA.

Board of Directors and Executive Leadership/Diversity

1. Regarding the board of directors: who should be included?

All voting members on the board should be included. Non-voting members should not be included.

2. For the board of directors (and the executive committee), do you use data as of year-end 2019 (e.g. 31/12/2019) or at the time of review?

Time of review.

3. Regarding the racial-diversity indicator for board and executives, local laws do not allow us to monitor individuals based on their race and ethnicity. What should we do?

If it is not possible to provide the aggregate number of racially diverse board or executive members (note: we ask that you do NOT reveal any individual information), please indicate this in the notes section and Corporate Knights will calculate this number independently based on careful consideration of pictures, names and bios.

Total Acquisitions

1. Which figure should be reported here – the cash amount paid for acquired companies or the effect on P&L?

The cash amount.

Clean Revenue and Clean Investment Questions

1. How do we know what qualifies as Clean Revenue or Clean Investment? 

Any revenue segment/CAPEX/R&D/acquisition that corresponds with any of the Clean Taxonomy segments included in the Corporate Knights Clean Taxonomy qualifies (subject to scrutiny and/or change by our analysts).

2. What does Clean Investment mean?

For non-financial companies, Clean Investments (which include Clean CAPEX, Clean R&D, Clean Acquisitions and Other) refer to any investments that align with the Corporate Knights Clean Taxonomy.

For financial sector companies, Clean CAPEX refers to investments that improve operational sustainability such as greening bank branches or buying EVs; Clean R&D refers to R&D into sustainable finance solutions such as new wealth-management platforms to enable values-aligned investing; and Clean Acquisitions and Other refer to any acquisitions of sustainable finance companies.

3. Can you provide more information about the weightings applied to “*” criteria, especially Clean Investment? 

These share the same weight. Clean CAPEX, Clean R&D and Clean Acquisitions and Other are weighted as 7.5% in total as the Clean Investment indicator. The calculation is (Total Clean Capital Expenditures + Total Clean R&D + Total Clean Acquisitions and Other) divided by (Total Capital Expenditures + Total R&D + Total Acquisitions).

4. What is the relationship between the Clean triad (Clean CAPEX/R&D/Acquisitions and Other investments) of the Environment section and the similar triad (CAPEX/R&D/Acquisitions and Other of the Economic section?

The former is the numerator and the latter is the denominator.

5. We are a financial institution and would like to calculate the percentage of our AUM and/or corporate lending to publicly traded companies according to their percentage of clean revenues. Can Corporate Knights provide us with a list of publicly traded companies, showing each of their clean revenue percentages?

Yes. Please email [email protected] and Corporate Knights will send the clean revenue percentages for all companies with coverage in our database.

6. How do you calculate the Clean Revenue for pharmaceutical companies?

It’s the percentage of revenues earned from equitably priced products for the list of 77 diseases, conditions and pathogens included in the Methodology for the 2018 Access to Medicine Index (p. 27).

Corporate Knights Data Portal Functionality Questions

1.Is it possible for us to create user accounts on the platform for additional colleagues?

Yes. To add users to your company profile, log in to the portal and select “Users,” then select [+] to enter a new user. Be sure to complete by clicking “Send password email” so your new user can create login credentials.

2.. Can I change my company’s data point values?

Yes. Please also provide additional information in the notes by clicking the “i.”

5. I have updated (rewritten) a numeric field and – even after saving – instead of turning light green it changes from blue to a grey background. Is this correct?

After entering new data, please select the green check mark beside the box to confirm that you approve this added data. Once you do so, the box will turn light green.

6. Can I upload images as supporting documentation?

Not at this time. In the future, it will be possible to upload supporting documentation. In the meantime, in exceptional circumstances where the image file cannot be linked to via a text-format URL, you can email the file in question to [email protected].

7. We are unable to view the .CSV file of the download. What do we do?

Try the below:

1. Download the .CSV file.
2. Open a new Excel document and navigate to the Data tab.
3. Click on “From Text.”
4. Navigate to the CSV file you wish to open and click on “Import.”
5. From the newly opened window, choose “Delimited,” then click on “Next.”
6. Check the box next to the type of delimiter – in most cases this is either a semicolon or a comma.
7. Click on “Finish.”

If that doesn’t work, email [email protected] and we will send you a copy by email.