As the transition to a low-carbon future accelerates, investors care about whether a company can grow and meet the challenges of sustainability. Also essential is a company's ability to make solid returns in all types of market environments. What green stocks are right to grow your portfolio?
Research shows sustainable investing is on the rise. When making a new investment, nearly 80% of global investors take into consideration a company's reporting on its carbon footprint and commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
As part of IBD's 2024 special report on the 100 Most Sustainable Companies, we review companies not solely on their sustainability and climate management achievements, but also on how they fare against their competitors in similar industries.
Public green companies that made our 2024 100 Most Sustainable Companies list combine strong climate management scores from Morningstar Sustainalytics with superior IBD technical and fundamental stock ratings. They are well-positioned for investors concerned about the climate transition. Read all the stories in our Most Sustainable Companies special report.
The tables below highlight IBD's most sustainable stocks in 11 industry categories, including technology, financial services, utilities and more.
Green stocks that top their industry lists and also are in the top three on the 2024 100 Most Sustainable Companies list include Moody's — first on the overall list and tops in the financial services category.
Southern Co. is second on the list of 100 companies and also leads the utilities category. Consumer giant Colgate-Palmolive tops the consumer category and its strong climate management score places it third on the list of 100.
To see all 100 stocks on the list and details on the methodology, read IBD's 100 Most Sustainable Companies For 2024.
Green Stocks: How IBD Created Its Lists
To build IBD's 2024 list of the 100 Most Sustainable Companies, we started with Morningstar's U.S. and global Low Carbon Transition Leaders Indexes. These new indexes provide exposure to companies from each sector taking the most action toward transitioning to a low-carbon economy. Morningstar Sustainalytics provides an overall climate management score of 0 to 100. This indicates the strength of a company's systems for managing its exposure to the low-carbon transition. A score of 46 to 55 is average, 56 to 75 is strong, and 76 to 100 is very strong.
Read More About The Top Winners On Our Most Sustainable Companies List: NRG Energy, Moody's, T-Mobile US
We sorted the constituents of the Morningstar U.S. and global Low Carbon Transition Leaders Indexes using IBD technical and fundamental stock ratings. The companies had to have a stock price of $10 or more and sufficient data to create an IBD Composite Rating.
We further qualified the list by removing those companies that did not meet or beat the S&P 500 in the past five years and which had an IBD Relative Strength rating below 70. We selected the companies with the highest IBD Composite Rating and ranked them by climate management score, using the IBD Composite Rating to break any ties. To check current stock ratings and charts, visit the IBD Stock Checkup page.
Financial Services
| Rank | Company | Symbol | Climate management score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moody's | MCO | 70.8 |
| 2 | Brookfield | BN | 66.8 |
| 3 | Aflac | AFL | 66.3 |
Utilities
| Rank | Company | Symbol | Climate management score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southern Co. | SO | 69.9 |
| 2 | Alliant Energy | LNT | 69.7 |
| 3 | NRG Energy | NRG | 69.3 |
Communication Services
| Rank | Company | Symbol | Climate management score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | T-Mobile US | TMUS | 68.0 |
| 2 | AT&T | T | 63.4 |
| 3 | Omnicom | OMC | 60.5 |
Real Estate
| Rank | Company | Symbol | Climate management score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Healthpeak Properties | DOC | 64.2 |
| 2 | AvalonBay Communities | AVB | 62.7 |
| 3 | Ventas | VTR | 60.5 |
Consumer
| Rank | Company | Symbol | Climate management score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colgate-Palmolive | CL | 69.7 |
| 2 | TJX | TJX | 64.1 |
| 3 | Campbell Soup | CPB | 62.8 |
Technology
| Rank | Company | Symbol | Climate management score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IBM | IBM | 64.1 |
| 2 | Oracle | ORCL | 62.4 |
| 3 | Autodesk | ADSK | 61.9 |
Basic Materials
| Rank | Company | Symbol | Climate management score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Newmont | NEM | 64.0 |
| 2 | Ecolab | ECL | 58.4 |
| 3 | Sherwin-Williams | SHW | 55.6 |
Industrials
| Rank | Company | Symbol | Climate management score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heico | HEIA | 61.2 |
| 2 | Waste Connections | WCN | 61.2 |
| 3 | Republic Services | RSG | 60.9 |
Commercial Services
| Rank | Company | Symbol | Climate management score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thomson Reuters | TRI | 60.8 |
| 2 | Iron Mountain | IRM | 58.1 |
| 3 | Equifax | EFX | 55.0 |
Health Care
| Rank | Company | Symbol | Climate management score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AstraZeneca | AZN | 60.1 |
| 2 | Cigna | CI | 58.6 |
| 3 | Gilead Sciences | GILD | 55.4 |
Energy
| Rank | Company | Symbol | Climate management score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Enbridge | ENB | 59.1 |
| 2 | Williams | WMB | 56.3 |
| 3 | TC Energy | TRP | 55.0 |
The Most Sustainable Companies logos and accolades are available for licensing through Investor's Business Daily's partner, The YGS Group, by email at IBDlicensing@theygsgroup.com or at 800-290-5460.
