Every year, the Ethisphere Institute prepared the report of the “World’s Most Ethical Companies”, which covers 45 industries in 22 countries around the world.
This is the 16th edition of this ranking that recognizes the 136 companies with the best corporate practices, business integrity, and commitment to sustainability, ethics, good governance, and compliance, positively impacting the environment.
Of the total number of companies recognized, 14 are new in this ranking, and six have been named in this list 16 times in the existence of the report.
Only five companies stood out in Latin America:
– Cementos Argos of Colombia, a construction materials company, appears on the list for the first time. It has 7,450 employees and annual revenues of around US$2,619 million. It stands out for maintaining an operation under sustainability standards. As they indicate, appearing in this ranking is a “recognition to the Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) management and the contribution to sustainable development in the territories where it has presence”. For more than 10 years, Argos has been working to reduce its carbon footprint, achieving a 14% reduction in CO2 emissions.
– Natura & Co, a Brazilian multinational in the health and beauty sector that includes brands such as Avon, Natura, The Body Shop, and Aesop, and which operates in more than 100 countries, with more than 2,9000 stores, 35,000 employees, more than 7.6 million representatives, and consultants and annual revenues of approximately US$7,928 million.
Although Natura has been in the ranking for 12 years, this is the first time the Group has appeared on the list, demonstrating that it maintains its standard in sustainable matters.
– Fresnillo PLC, a Mexican metals and minerals producer, is on the list for the third consecutive year. Its code of conduct establishes a guide for the daily behavior of each employee, based on institutional values: Trust, Responsibility, Integrity, and Loyalty.
The company has 5,584 employees and an annual turnover of US$2,430.
– Grupo Bimbo, is a Mexican multinational food company with more than 100 brands and 75 years of history behind it. It has been recognized for the sixth consecutive year in the ranking. It stands out for its commitment to integrity and competition, through its Global Agriculture Policy to share its vision of practices that support economic, environmental, and social resilience; its Global Integrity Policy, which details the guidelines and general parameters to ensure that anti-corruption laws are understood and complied with; and its Global Human Rights Policy, which establishes general guidelines on respect for the human rights of its stakeholders, by the laws of each country.
The company has a turnover of US$16.6 billion and 135,000 employees.
– Cementos Progreso, a Guatemalan construction and building materials company. For the ninth consecutive year, it is on the list of the world’s most ethical companies and the only Central American company. It is noted for promoting transparency and standards of integrity, advancing the incorporation of business, commercial, and ethical practices. The company seeks to maintain ethical standards internally to set an example for the country, the region, and the world.
The company generates annual revenues of US$700,000 and has 4,000 employees.
The company’s evaluation process is based on Ethics Quotient®, patented by Ethisphere, which includes more than 200 questions on culture, environmental and social practices, ethics and compliance standards, governance, diversity, and initiatives to support the value chain. The process functions as a framework for collecting and ranking leading organizational best practices across industries and around the world.
Scores are generated in five categories:
o Ethics and compliance (35%)
o Corporate citizenship and responsibility (20%)
o Culture of ethics (20%)
o Governance (15%)
o Leadership, innovation, and reputation (10%)
Globally, the ranking includes companies such as 3M, Accenture, Apple, HP, LinkedIn, and Microsoft, among others.
