Xylem ranked 16th in an assessment of 1000 companies globally, rising two places since its 2019 evaluation. The Company also took second place among all Capital Goods companies in the list. The 100 Best Corporate Citizens ranking here is an assessment comparing company performance on 141 factors in eight categories, including Environment, Human Rights, and Governance.
3BL Media, publisher of corporate responsibility journal CR Magazine, develops the 100 Best Corporate Citizens ranking in partnership with Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ESG. ISS ESG researches relevant data and processes the ranking based on publicly available data.
Water for a healthy world
Xylem’s ranking as a top corporate citizen follows the recent publication of the Company’s 2019 sustainability report, “Water for a Healthy World,” launched earlier this month. In this same report, the Company announced it had succeeded in beating its greenhouse gas emissions intensity targets by more than 40%, and had also reduced product energy intensity. The report details
Xylem’s advances on a wide range of sustainability topics: from energy and water intensity, to innovation, diversity and inclusion, disaster relief, community impact and employee volunteerism.
“We are committed to creating both economic and social value for all our stakeholders, as we solve water and resource management challenges around the world,” said Patrick Decker, Xylem’s president and CEO. “That is why sustainability is at the center of what we do. We leverageleading-edge technologies, innovation, data and, most importantly, our colleagues and their talent to provide solutions that make water more accessible, more resilient and more affordable forcommunities all around the world. We win when our customers, partners and communities win.”
Xylem’s employees also surpassed their previous records, with 58% of them contributing more than 70,000 volunteer hours in 2019, through the Company’s corporate social responsibility program – Xylem Watermark. 2019 saw Watermark launch a global Humanitarian Disaster Response Team, engaging employees, customers, and suppliers in responding to water-related disasters, such as floods and hurricanes. It partners with over 250 non-profit organizations, globally.
“Water for a Healthy World” marks the finish line for Xylem’s previous set of 5-year sustainability targets, set in 2014, and the first year of tracking its bolder 2025 goals, set last year. Xylem’s 2025 goals include commitments to:
- Save more than 16.5 billion cubic meters of water through the use of advanced technologies
- Prevent over 7 billion cubic meters of polluted water from flooding communities or entering local waterways
- Provide access to clean water and sanitation solutions for at least 20 million people
- Ensure 100% of employees have access to clean water and safe sanitation at work, at home and during natural disasters
- Give 1% of xylem employees’ time and 1% of company profits to water-related causes and education
- Use 100% renewable energy and 100% process water recycling at its major facilities.