26 BARRON’S February 15, 2021
solar energy use in 2020, buying a com-
pany that has its own solar farm.
For some companies, guiding clients
about sustainability has proved to be good
business. The pandemic is a “defining mo-
ment,” says Agilent CEO Mike McMullen.
“A number of our largest customers want to
hear directly about what we’re doing in sus-
tainability and asking us to help them,” in-
cluding providing instruments that use less
power and chemical solvents, and shrinking
packaging. As a result, in 2020, Agilent
scooped up market share and boosted prof-
itability. It recently upped its revenue fore-
cast for this year’s first quarter. Ecolab cus-
tomers are also asking the company for
advice about sustainability.
As more people are being vaccinated
against Covid-19, Ecolab has been busy
preparing for America to reopen—some-
thing it sees as likely in the third quarter.
The company has helped customers save
billions of gallons of water and associated
heating costs, and helped them create spe-
cific environmental impact goals. For ex-
ample, it helpedMicrosoft(MSFT) recon-
figure five data centers to be potable
water- and CO2-neutral. With one of the
largest automobile fleets in America, Eco-
lab is moving to use electric vehicles. “We
manage a trillion gallons of water: Our
impact can be absolutely huge,” says Eco-
lab CEO Beck.
O
ne of the best examples that sus-
tainability pays off is Autodesk,
which has also been guiding clients
about how to achieve net zero. The
company makes software for the architec-
ture, engineering and construction indus-
tries. It helps eliminate waste and lets con-
tractors, owners, and other participants in
the supply and manufacturing chain col-
laborate on data via cloud computing. Dur-
ing the pandemic, the corporation made
certain products free, reducing piracy. That
put them “in a great place for subscription
renewals,” says Karina Funk of Brown
Advisory, a top sustainable fund manager
and Autodesk fan.
CEO Andrew Anagnost is a self-
proclaimed conservationist, with “solar
panels all over the house” and electric
cars in the garage. Wary of plastic pollu-
tion, he and his wife ask their 8-year-old
to refrain from bringing home birthday
party goody bags.
A decade ago, Autodesk set goals to
dramatically reduce its carbon footprint.
In its current fiscal year, ending in Janu-
ary 2022, it expects to hit zero emissions.
“We’ve been very passionate about it—not
just leading by example, but also leading
customers to it,” says Anagnost. “When
you’re using us as a supplier, you’re using
a supplier that has achieved net zero.”
Half of Autodesk’s directors are women.
And, yes, there was a bright spot to the
pandemic, Anagnost says. “It has woken
us up to the fragility of so many things.
It woke people up to their supply chains,
and to the fragility of their modes of
working, and to their ability to respond
to crisis.”
Plans specifically organized around
stakeholder capitalism will help, Anag-
nost says: “When you invest in communi-
ties and connected environments, you
create more opportunities for sharehold-
ers, creating a better 10-year return. In
software, we depend on intelligent, moti-
vated employees to build innovative
stuff.” And he adds: “In a world where
people care about the environment, the
more we can do to help customers do
more sustainable things, the more suc-
cessful we’ll be as company.”B
HowOurTopSustainable
Companies Have Performed
Does our list have predictive value? In only
oneofourthreepreviousrankingshasit
beaten the S&P 500 in the same calendar
year. (Our list typically runs in February.)
However,ourlistisequalweighted.
Whenmarket-capweighted,astheS&Pis,
it tops the benchmark index every year.
Total Return
■Barron's Top 100 - Equal Weight
■Barron's Top 100 - Market-Cap Weight
■S&P 500
*Because Barron’s ranking of sustainable companies
runs so early in the year, we chose to look at returns
for that same calendar year, to judge performance.
Source: Calvert Research & Management
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