10 Top Sustainable Countries According to Latest Corporate Knights G20 Scorecard Ranking

I’ve taken to writing about how Canada is perceived globally and love when we represent well on relevant lists and a ranking involving sustainability is definitely relevant. In the past some of my posts have featured our great nation on lists such as the smartest countries, the happiest countries, the best countries for entrepreneurs, the best countries to live, the most competitive countries to do business, the countries with the best reputation and the  most peaceful countries. In today’s post, I’m staying on this track with a look at the list of the G20: Sustainable Countries Scorecard 2012.

The list was compiled and published by Corporate Knights “a media, research and financial products company focused on quantifying and animating clean capitalism drivers for decision makers.” Being CSR business minded and having completed our first Sustainability Report ourselves we are always in tune with the latest news and reports released by Corporate Knights. We have featured reports like the 50 Best Corporate Citizens in Canada, the 2012 Canadian green provincial report card and the 2012 Top Foreign Corporate Citizens. Corporate Knights have always proven to be a reliable resource for providing extensive and comprehensive research and reasoning.

This report is based on the G20 group of countries along with the European Union as “its 19 member countries and the European Union represent two-thirds of the world’s population, 80 per cent of global trade and 90 per cent of global gross domestic product.” The report research team used methodology that measured countries on 10 environmental, social and governance indicators to get a complete scoring on: Energy Productivity, GHG (carbon) Productivity, Safety Productivity, Education Index, Unemployment Rate, Gender Gap Index, Patents Filed, Corruption Index, Gini Index (an economic measure of income inequality) and Percentage Renewable Electricity (excluding hydro).

Based on these scorings, the top ten according to the report were:

1. Germany, score: 80.42
2. Japan, score: 77.23
3. Australia, score: 73.22
4. United Kingdom, score: 70.49
5. United States, score: 65.32
6. Canada, score: 62.48
7. Korea, score: 59.09
8. France, score: 58.07
9. Italy, score: 55.95
10. The European Union: 52.45%

The full report ranking shows how each country ranked according to each scoring indicator. The data sources include CIA Factbook, Human Development Report 2011, United Nations Development Programme, International Labour Organization, International Monetary Fund, The Global Gender Gap Report 2011, World Economic Forum, Transparency International, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and World Bank.

This is a list that can have a real impact on a country’s economy as being cognizant of sustainability is a very desirable trait today for people and corporations looking for destinations to visit, live and do business. Corporations who value CSR business initiatives and sustainability will be more attracted to like-minded countries adding value to this index as it could sway them to invest or conduct business there. The fact that this list exists illustrates the importance that is being placed on sustainability.

This sustainable scorecard also gives countries a glimpse of where they rank in relation to other countries in important areas like environmental, social and governance. Even though a country may score well, this scorecard helps to identify the areas in which they can improve. This is the first G20: Sustainable Countries Scorecard and we hope future releases will see Canada closer to the top of the list.

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