The Criteria

• Over $1 Billion annual revenues. The CSO Award focuses on major companies where sustainability practices grant the most impact in reducing emissions and contributing to groundbreaking changes, whilst bearing the most challenges.
• Company headquarters must be based within Europe.
• Company Headcount +5k employees
• Companies that have published the sustainability report by November 6, 2024.
• Sustainability report data source should be at least by July 1st 2023.
• To be considered for the CSO Awards, the company should have a representative sustainability report or a comprehensive sustainability section in its annual report.
• The awards do not include Oil & Gas, defence, and consulting companies, or related industries.

• We consider the job titles of Chief Sustainability Officer or equivalent, operating a C-level or direction position.
• Highest Sustainability representative of the company or group with executive roles.
• Only one CSO/equivalent role per group or affiliated companies.
• At least one year in the role of CSO or equivalent to be eligible for further nomination stage (one year before September 1, 2024), and still working at the company by the Top100 official Announcement on social media.
• All special mentions and winners from previous editions are eligible to join the Top100 CSOs list.
• Thought leadership ranked by the numbers of followers on LinkedIn and public appearances.

The Leonardo Centre at Imperial College has created a comprehensive global dataset that analyses corporate sustainability behaviours, enabling a thorough assessment of the maturity levels of the top 100 companies. Utilising this dataset, the Impact Maturity Index ranks companies within various sectors and geographies, providing valuable insights into their sustainability performance.

Imperial College has recently released a detailed white paper presenting the maturity matrix and the evolving role of Chief Sustainability Officers. This comprehensive resource is now available for download here, providing valuable insights into the increasing importance of sustainability leadership in organisations.

By utilising publicly available ESG Ratings, we evaluate companies that are exceeding regulatory requirements in their advancements on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria. With this, we identify companies that demonstrate ambitious plans for achieving Net-Zero emissions and beyond, showcasing a fearless and innovative approach to driving transformative change.

Futur/io trained an AI tool to analyse 100 sustainability reports from chosen companies, extracting pertinent information on Greenhouse Gas emissions, Biodiversity measures, and Water usage. Additionally, the partner Rainforest Partnership carried out an in-depth analysis on the tropical rainforest ecosystem impact of each company. Finally, the partner Denominator created a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) matrix score and the partner Rainforest Partnership created a matrix score for rainforest impact to assess relevant data in these areas. After that, scores are assigned for these five impact areas (GHG, Biodiversity, Water, DEI and Rainforest Impact), which will collectively form the final score for that dimension.

Based on external ESG Ratings and the Imperial College Maturity Index, we have developed a Survey & Self-Assessment, and have invited the top 100 CSOs to take part in it. The Survey responses will generate a score that will be included in the final ranking.