Category: 100 largest publicly listed companies

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

Paul Washington

Executive Director, Environmental, Social and Governance Center

@ The Conference Board

Patricia Rodrigues Jenner
Non-Executive Director, Investment and ESG Specialist @ Legal & General Assurance Society Ltd, AERIF plc, GLIL Infrastructure and African Infrastructure Investment Manager

Helen Pitcher OBE
Chairman, Board Member, Board Facilitator and Coach @ Advanced Boardroom Excellence

Synopsis

The purpose of TSBR is to showcase different dimensions of sustainable business leadership and corporate governance.

We have created the ‘World’s Most Future Ready Board’ ranking to highlight ESG-prepared boards of directors (BoD) 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.

‘Future Ready Score’ Ranking Distribution

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

Methodology

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

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

Sustainability/Integrated report BoD sign off

Confirms whether the BoD 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​

BoD’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

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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

Resources

Photo Credits: All background imagery from Hugo Sousa. Pictured is the Champalimaud Foundation, Lisboa, Portugal