World's Most Future Ready Boards
We have created the ‘World’s Most Future Ready Board’ ranking to highlight ESG-prepared boards of directors that are resilient and able to respond to material sustainability issues. Businesses that have not yet achieved this level of good corporate governance can use the Top 10 as role models to prepare for the future. We provide a detailed view of each company and what drives their scores.
No board is the same, nor should they copy one another. We do believe, however, that this ranking will inspire and motivate others to draw out valuable best practice and improve. As pointed out in our annual report, ESG preparedness, which is the foundation of a future ready board, also has implications for business strategy and stakeholder engagement.
Our rating approach uses a set of proprietary data points and has been reviewed by a panel of independent experts comprising of Non-Executive Directors (NEDs), corporate governance advisors and business educators.
The ranking is based on the largest 100 companies of the Forbes 2000 list and draws on the TSBR annual report.
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Total Score: 74%
Materiality Disclosure Quality: 63%
Weight for score: 13%
Sustainability/Integrated Report Sign-Off: 100%
Weight for score: 10%
ESG Engagement of relevant directors: 60%
Weight for score: 18%
Board of Directors Gender Diversity: 83%
Weight for score: 17%
Net Zero Commitment: 84%
Weight for score: 17%
United States
Total Score: 72%
Materiality Disclosure Quality: 38%
Weight for score: 8%
Sustainability/Integrated Report Sign-Off: 100%
Weight for score: 10%
ESG Engagement of relevant directors: 75%
Weight for score: 23%
Board of Directors Gender Diversity: 77%
Weight for score: 15%
Net Zero Commitment: 84%
Weight for score: 17%
United Kingdom
Total Score: 69%
Materiality Disclosure Quality: 22%
Weight for score: 4%
Sustainability/Integrated Report Sign-Off: 100%
Weight for score: 10%
ESG Engagement of relevant directors: 75%
Weight for score: 23%
Board of Directors Gender Diversity: 100%
Weight for score: 20%
Net Zero Commitment: 60%
Weight for score: 12%
France
Total Score: 67%
Materiality Disclosure Quality: 22%
Weight for score: 4%
Sustainability/Integrated Report Sign-Off: 100%
Weight for score: 10%
ESG Engagement of relevant directors: 75%
Weight for score: 23%
Board of Directors Gender Diversity: 92%
Weight for score: 18%
Net Zero Commitment: 60%
Weight for score: 12%
United Sates
Total Score: 65%
Materiality Disclosure Quality: 11%
Weight for score: 2%
Sustainability/Integrated Report Sign-Off: 100%
Weight for score: 10%
ESG Engagement of relevant directors: 75%
Weight for score: 23%
Board of Directors Gender Diversity: 93%
Weight for score: 19%
Net Zero Commitment: 60%
Weight for score: 12%
France
Total Score: 65%
Materiality Disclosure Quality: 19%
Weight for score: 4%
Sustainability/Integrated Report Sign-Off: 100%
Weight for score: 10%
ESG Engagement of relevant directors: 100%
Weight for score: 30%
Board of Directors Gender Diversity: 29%
Weight for score: 6%
Net Zero Commitment: 78%
Weight for score: 16%
India
Total Score: 65%
Materiality Disclosure Quality: 9%
Weight for score: 2%
Sustainability/Integrated Report Sign-Off: 100%
Weight for score: 10%
ESG Engagement of relevant directors: 67%
Weight for score: 20%
Board of Directors Gender Diversity: 92%
Weight for score: 18%
Net Zero Commitment: 73%
Weight for score: 15%
United Kingdom
Total Score: 62%
Materiality Disclosure Quality: 11%
Weight for score: 2%
Sustainability/Integrated Report Sign-Off: 100%
Weight for score: 10%
ESG Engagement of relevant directors: 60%
Weight for score: 18%
Board of Directors Gender Diversity: 100%
Weight for score: 20%
Net Zero Commitment: 60%
Weight for score: 12%
France
Total Score: 62%
Materiality Disclosure Quality: 70%
Weight for score: 14%
Sustainability/Integrated Report Sign-Off: 100%
Weight for score: 10%
ESG Engagement of relevant directors: 38%
Weight for score: 11%
Board of Directors Gender Diversity: 73%
Weight for score: 15%
Net Zero Commitment: 60%
Weight for score: 12%
Australia
2022 Ranking
The 100 largest publicly listed companies as per the Forbes 2000 list have an overweight on American and Chinese companies. The total composition of the sample is: 42 North America (US & Canada), 34 Asia (China, Hong Kong, Japan), 17 Europe, 4 United Kingdom, 3 Australia
Ranking Distribution
Resources
Future Ready Boards
Interview Series
In this special series of our podcast 'Leadership Conversations' we discuss with distinguished guests what future ready boards mean to them. Each in their own area of expertise share insights and advise how to move forward with good governance for a sustainable future.
Pamela Ravasio
Advisor to Executive Management & Board of Directors, Keynote Speaker, Author, INED @ Shirahime, Polygiene, INSEAD IDN
Patricia Rodrigues Jenner
Non-Executive Director, Investment and ESG Specialist @ Legal & General Assurance Society Ltd, AERIF plc, GLIL
Helen Pitcher OBE
Chairman, Board Member, Board Facilitator and Coach @ Advanced Boardroom Excellence
Paul Washington
Executive Director, Environmental, Social and Governance Center
@ The Conference Board
Materiality disclosure quality in corporate governance policy
Matches the company’s sustainability issues stipulated in the relevant committee charter or other corporate governance policy against the business de facto materiality as per Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB).
Weight: 20%
ESG Dimension: Governance
Sustainability/Integrated report board sign off
Confirms whether the board or chair has signed off the company’s sustainability or integrated report. If the board chair has a CEO double role, the board or relevant committee must be involved in the report review.
Weight 10%
ESG Dimension: Governance
Relevant director’s ESG consciousness/competence
Assessment of all directors’ ESG consciousness and/or competence on a relevant committee. The assessment follows the TSBR checklist that can be found here.
Weight: 30%
ESG Dimension: Governance
Board's Gender Diversity
Our research shows that there is a strong correlation between directors’ sustainability consciousness, competence and gender diversity. Hence, this is a significant data point for our ranking approach whilst addressing the social dimension.
Weight: 20%
ESG Dimension: Social
Net Zero Commitment
Comprises the target year of net zero commitment as well as a multiplier for disclosed milestones leading up to the target date
Weight: 20%
ESG Dimension: Environmental