Google holding company Alphabet leads the latest Clean200, which lists the biggest public companies ranked by green energy revenues.
As You Sow and Corporate Knights, which produce the list every six months, credit Alphabet’s top spot to its investment of billions of dollars in renewables to meet its 100% target.
The listing was expanded to more sectors, which resulted in 87 new companies appearing in the ranking, including Alphabet.
The Clean200 methodology was updated this year – using the Corporate Knights Clean Revenue database – to capture portions of the clean economy extending beyond energy efficiency, green energy, and zero emission and hybrid vehicles.
New sectors include banks financing low-carbon solutions, real estate companies focused on low-carbon buildings, forestry companies protecting carbon sinks, responsible mining companies, food and clothing companies with a lower carbon footprint, as well as ICT companies promoting renewable energy in their electricity consumption.
In the latest Clean200 list, Siemens came second, Toyota third, Cisco Systems forth and Hewlett Packard fifth.
In the previous list, published in the third quarter of 2018, Vestas came fifth.
Companies are ranked in Clean200 according to the amount of absolute revenue they earned from low-carbon products and services.
Since 2016, Clean200 has outperformed the S&P global 1200 energy index, 1.29% compared to 2.49%.
According to Corporate Knights, the trade war between China and US has impacted the performance of Chinese companies ranked.
If Chinese stocks were excluded from the Clean200, the return of the list, since 2016, would rise to 20.4%, ahead of the broad market benchmark for the S&P 1200.
Corporate Knights chief executive Toby Heaps said: “Normally, during periods of stock market decline, defensive stocks outperform and higher growth stocks underperform.
“The Clean200 is overweight on growth companies and underweight on defensive stocks, with no exposure to weapons, tobacco, or healthcare.
“But it has still continued to outperform when the outlying Chinese stocks are excluded. This suggests markets are re-calibrating the value of stocks such as clean energy, that offer a superior and enduring value proposition in a low-carbon economy.”